Benevolence
by Haleine Delail
Summary: The TARDIS crash lands on a strange planet where the inhabitants are trying and failing to help Earth survive its greatest crisis. Is it the Doctor who holds the key to our salvation, or someone else a bit less likely? 10th/Martha/Jack
1. Chapter 1

**Personal disclaimer:** **This is my first attempt at writing Doctor Who fanfic. Please be kind, and feel free to offer _constructive_ criticisms!**

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ONE

"Oh, I love that swooshing!" Martha Jones exclaimed as the TARDIS made its exit. "My heart always skips a bit – I just know I'm in for something really exciting!"

"You think it's a swooshing? I find it more of a _grinding_," Captain Jack Harkness replied.

"Really? You think so?" She made a funny face and then attempted to imitate the totally unique, otherwordly sound. Jack looked on, amused, but Martha was earnest. She sat quiet for a few moments, contemplating. Then she announced, "Nah, definitely swooshing."

"You're crazy!" In disagreement, Jack did his own impression of the TARDIS' voice. "It's like gears. Gears grind – they don't swoosh."

"Erm, children! A little help please?" the Doctor cut in, his black reader glasses perched unnecessarily upon his very pointed nose. He was struggling with the vehicle's console, and his argumentative friends came to his aid.

Jack did not like the looks of the screen's display, flashing the words "Registering human hostages," in red letters across the bottom.

"What the hell does that mean?" Jack asked the Doctor.

In his signature machine-gun Doctorspeak, the Time Lord answered, "It's a safety feature I install and re-upgrade when taking humans aboard the TARDIS. It lets me know that where I'm going isn't friendly territory for humans and I should turn this boat around! Only it won't turn around. I need someone to steer the space flux direction control and push any way except for forward. I'm going to get to the heart of the matter."

Jack took the reins while Martha looked on, and the Doctor slid underneath the console to check into what he called "the heart" of the TARDIS.

A siren went off somewhere in the control room, and Jack screamed, "I'm losing control, Doctor! What's happening?"

"She's homing in on something..." the Doctor yelled from below.

"Homing in? What's that mean?" Martha called out as the floor beneath their feet began to shake violently, and it became amply clear that their ship was in crash-land mode.

"Martha, take the wheel," Jack said urgently. As she did so, he slid under the console with the Doctor.

She heard them yelling at each other, but she couldn't work out what they were saying. She concentrated on aiming the TARDIS 'any way except for forward.' Finally, she heard Jack cry out, "What? With human hostages? We've got to..."

Whatever he did, it made things a lot worse. The TARDIS turned upside-down momentarily, causing all three occupants to scream and hold on for dear life. Suddenly, it came to a screeching halt (swooshing, grinding... whatever), and all alarms, screens and buttons on the console went back to normal.

The Doctor slid out, and stood up. He looked at Martha with puzzlement, but she knew that he wasn't searching her for answers. He was, in reality, looking right through her.

"The TARDIS has homed in on another benevolent energy initiator," he mumbled.

She smiled, not having the faintest clue what he was talking about, but wanting to show that she was listening. "_Another_ benevolent energy initiator? So this has happened before?"

"No, he means that it has homed in on another of its own kind," Captain Jack explained to Martha. Then, to the Doctor, "Don't you?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied without moving his lips.

"It means that wherever we are, there is some kind of device that has a 'heart' similar to that of the TARDIS. A benevolent energy initiator – it means it can heal. I mean, that's not all it can do... it's just one of the many fine bells and whistles," he said, patting the TARDIS' console affectionately.

"And the TARDIS has literally been _attracted _here, wherever here is, because it _sensed _that it has a cousin or whatever?" Martha asked.

"Not just that," the Doctor muttered. "It means that the cousin must be in some trouble."


	2. Chapter 2

TWO

This planet was nothing extraordinary. They landed on a hill overlooking what looked more or less like a moderately-sized western city on Earth, like Cardiff or Dallas. There were quite a few tall buildings, a few short ones, a few vehicles on wheels on the ground, fewer in the air. The climate was a bit humid, but cool, and it looked as though there was grass under their feet. In fact, the only way that Martha could tell this wasn't her home planet was by the two suns hovering side-by-side in the sky, and the pinkish tinge of the atmosphere.

"Is this where we're supposed to be?" she asked.

"I suppose so," the Doctor answered with a bit of a chirp. "Doesn't look like a place that would harbor humans as hostages, but then again, humans often hold humans as hostages, so we never can tell, can we?"

"So you don't recognize it?" Captain Jack asked.

"Nope-ah," the Doctor replied, rocking back on his heels. "Only one way to do just that. Shall we?" He offered Martha his arm, smiling. Jack did the same. She took both of them, and the three set off down the hill like a vision from _The Wizard of Oz_, minus the lion.

As they got closer to the city, they caught glimpses of the inhabitants. They were purple-skinned, humanoid, with protruding ridges across their foreheads. They reminded Martha of triceratops. This race was apparently very earnest, as all wore only black and they flitted about in their environment without speaking to one another, without smiling, without stopping for a lattè... they all seemed just to be heading for a destination. And that was it. This is what allowed the three foreigners to go undetected.

Coming down the hill, the Doctor was taken by the sight of thirteen buildings, all identical, all taller than the other tall buildings. As these thirteen came into focus, he could see that they each had a picture of a planet lit up toward the top. Four or five of them he vaguely recognized from different galaxies in different timeframes, all across the universe. A man of his extensive travel background could not necessarily be expected to recall on sight every single planet in existence. However, three he recognized definitively; one of them was Earth.

Martha and Jack seemed to register this detail at the same time. They both pointed at it, and in unison asked, "Wha...?"

"I don't know," said the Doctor, gaping along with the others. "But I think it's pretty safe to say that that's where our human hostages would be."

"So are we here to rescue them?" Martha asked.

"I don't know," said the Doctor.

"Well, I'd say it's definitely something we should look into, don't you?" Jack asked

"I don't know," said the Doctor.

"But what if they're war criminals or something? Couldn't that, like, upset the balance of... something?" asked Martha.

"I don't know," said the Doctor.

"Well, you're just a font of useful information today. So glad I hitched my horse to this cart," Jack said, throwing up his hands. "Look, you two stand there and stare if you like. I'm going in."

Captain Jack charged down the last of the hill and into the light traffic on the streets. The Doctor and Martha ran to catch up, and the trio began to receive some quizzical looks from the locals. There did not seem to be any hostility, only confusion. They acted like nothing was unusual, said hello to the unsmiling inhabitants, Jack flirted with a few of them, and they made their way to the building marked with the image of Earth.

As time travelers and interplanetary swashbucklers, it went against the deeply-embedded natures of the Doctor and Captain Jack to go in through the front door. Instead, they instinctively looked for a back entrance, and Martha had no choice but to follow. She nearly protested, but in the end, she realized that if the TARDIS was registering human hostages, it might not be the wisest idea to charge into this place looking as they did. Even though the inhabitants of this planet, thus far, didn't seem to be too alarmed by their presence, they might be walking into something completely different.

The sonic screwdriver saw to it that the three adventurers got through two electronically locked entrances without incident. The corridor led them down a couple of twists and turns leading past what looked like offices and control rooms.

But soon, the electronic doorways, key pads, LED lights and sterile steel gave way to black wrought-iron gates with latches, fire torches and stone walls. The change was sudden, clearly intentional. It was as though they had traveled from the Starship Enterprise to King Arthur's court. The Doctor didn't react to the change, but Martha found the dank environment oppressive and disturbing. Less nerve-wracking in the we're-going-to-get-caught-on-radar-by-a-military-machine kind of way, but much less sanitary, which was important to a medical doctor.

Two more turns and they began to hear whimpering.

The Doctor registered the sound first. "Do you hear that?"

Martha and Jack stopped in their tracks and listened hard.

"It sounds like a child," Martha said, compassion showing in her eyes.

Jack said nothing, but looked at his friends with the same expression of sinking dread that Martha was feeling. The Doctor gave them an unspoken urging, and the three of them pressed on down the corridor. About fifty feet ahead, they came to a cell.

Two humans were inside.


	3. Chapter 3

THREE

THREE

One of the humans was, Martha guessed, approximately eight years old, and male. He had dirty blond hair and wore a stained linen tunic with brown britches tucked into leather boots. With him was an old woman, perhaps seventy or eighty years old with cataracts completely glazing over her eyes. She was wearing a simple brown burlap dress, tied beneath the bosom. She wore leather shoes tied at the ankles and a threadbare linen hood.

The cell contained a table and two chairs, two beds, and a few candles. In the corner beside one of the beds, there was a few silver rings attached to some string, and some paper and a quill. On the table, there was a Bible and another book whose title was not visible. On one of the chairs, the boy sat with his knees pulled up to his chest, whimpering. On the other chair, an unfinished garment lay with a bone needle sticking out, as if to hold its place. The old woman was kneeling beside the other bed, and she seemed to be praying.

When the two hostages saw the Doctor, Martha and Jack, they were understandably startled. The boy jumped to his feet.

"What d'you want?" he screamed. "You'll not be puttin' a brown sack over me 'ead today! I'll figh' I will!"

"Peter," the old woman groaned as she crossed herself and attempted to stand.

Martha tried to calm him. "It's okay, we're here to help."

"Don' you come any closer!" the boy screamed.

"Peter," the old woman repeated as she continued to struggle.

"Don't you want to help her?" Captain Jack asked, concerned.

"Who are you?" the boy asked him.

"I'm Jack, son," the Captain said calmly, squatting to the level of the boy. He put his hands casually on the bars and gave his most charming, disarming smile. "This is Martha and the Doctor. They're my friends – we like to travel together. Who are you?"

The boy looked at him mistrustfully, squinting as if to size up the man. He was deadly still for a bit, then decided to say, "Peter. Peter Muncie. This is me gran'mum. 'Er name's Alice."

"All right, Peter Muncie. What are you and Alice doing here?" Jack asked.

"Dunno. They brough' us 'ere when the sickness got real bad. Seems like a fortnight ago, but they won' tell us why."

"The sickness?" asked Martha.

The old lady, finally standing, came forward. Staring at nothing, she told the newcomers with her confused, almost singsong voice, "Everyone was dyin'. Just Peter and me left on our street. Then one day, they came and took us, brough' us 'ere. Every day, they come and take us again..."

"Take you where?" the Doctor asked earnestly.

"Can't see 'em," she answered. "I'm blind, and they pull sommat over Peter's little eyes. We don't know what they do, just that it 'urts."

"It hurts?" asked the Doctor, almost in a whisper.

"Burns," the little boy said, shuddering. "Like fire all over."

Tears came to Martha's eyes as she listened. "Oh, God," she whispered. "They're being _tortured_."

Like Jack, the Doctor now bent down to the boy's level. "What do they say, Peter, when they take you? Do they speak?"

"They speak," Peter said. "But we don't understand nothin'. They talk gibberish, they do. It's like French, but worse."

The Doctor asked. "Where do you come from? What is your language?"

"We're from London," the grandmother replied, "Just like you, from the sound of it. 'Ow did you escape the sickness?"

"I don't know, I guess I was lucky," the Doctor said with no mirth whatsoever. "Peter, Alice, would you like to leave here?"

"Pardon? I don't think I 'eard you righ'," Alice said.

"We can get you out of here, if you want to leave and go back home to London," he told them.

"Love to get out of 'ere," the old lady said to the Doctor. "Anyway, I wanna get my Peter away from the burnin'. But we got nowhere else to go. All our family in London is dead from the sickness. Peter's mum an' dad, his big sister Sally and big brother Joseph, Mr. Wainwrigh' the butcher, Mrs. Peabody, the lady who does the washin'..."

"Sorry," Martha cut in. "But what sort of sickness is this?"

"Dunno," she said. "It's jus' killin'. God ain't best pleased with us, I reckon."

"Well, do you think it's something to do with the lungs, or are there pustules? Is the virus airborne, or do you catch it through exchange of germs, like through saliva or blood?" Martha persisted, speaking almost fast enough to give the Doctor a run for his money.

The Doctor took her hand and pulled her gently away from the bars. "Martha, Martha. I don't think they know anything." She reluctantly accepted that he was right.

"So you've got no one to go back to in London, but if you stay here, there's the burning," Jack said. "Let us take you out of here... you can set up a life for yourself and your grandson somewhere else."

"That's right," Martha said. "Let us help you."

"Oh gran'mum," Peter begged. "Please say we can leave! I can't take another burnin'! I didn't do nothin' wrong! Please!"

Martha had to struggle to choke back tears responding to the boy's pleading. She silently willed the grandmother to say yes.

"Oh, all righ'," Alice said. "We'll go. Anythin's be'er than 'ere."

Jack, Martha, Alice and Peter all looked at the Doctor. He extracted the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the old-fashioned lock. When the blue light shone in the darkness, and the buzz of technology filled the silent space, Alice and Peter both recoiled.

Peter grabbed onto his grandmother in fright, as they both gasped. Through in articulate screams, Peter managed to point at the three strangers and scream "Witchcraft!" just before collapsing in tears.


	4. Chapter 4

FOUR

It probably wasn't the screaming from inside the cage that brought the masked men around, since Peter had cried out before and not attracted attention. It was probably just an unhappy coincidence.

There were three of them, each with their faces covered with a plain, flat black mask, with holes only for the eyes and mouth. The ridges on their brows were concealed beneath black hoods. Their dress was plain as well. Black shirts, black shoes, boots.

They came around the corner at a full run, probably having anticipated intruders once they heard the screams. By the time the Doctor, Martha and Jack registered that they were not alone in the corridor, it was too late. One of the masked beings aimed a weapon at Martha, who happened to be standing between her two friends. Efficiently, the other two unlocked the cage (the old-fashioned way: with a key), went inside amid the cries and pleas to stop, and as expected, threw a burlap bag over Peter's head. One of them grabbed Alice by the arms and forcefully nudged her into the corridor while the other carried Peter like a sack of kicking potatoes.

Jack and Martha watched in stunned horror at the treatment of a helpless child and a possibly even more helpless blind old woman. The Doctor attempted to engage the masked men. He asked them who they were, what planet this was, what they were doing to the humans. He fired question after question, reassured them that they meant no harm, but his questions went ignored. The only words spoken by any of the beings was when the one holding Peter said, "Bring them," to the one with the weapon.

"What if we don't want to be brought?" Captain Jack asked defiantly.

The one with the weapon stepped forward and pressed the barrel to Martha's forehead so hard it made her wince. Five seconds later, he stepped behind her and said, "Walk."

The three of them did as asked.

"Never, _never_ ask that question," the Doctor hissed at Jack, as they followed the screams down the hall.

"I know, I know," Jack said, conceding.

They were all taken to a room – all of them: the Doctor, Martha, Jack, Peter and Alice, along with their captors. Peter was continuing to struggle, but his cries had wound down into grunts and the occasional spat curse. Alice was muttering 'Hail Mary' over and over again. The room was lined with stainless steel, much like the outer areas where they had entered the building. There were a few control panels in the room, but at the center, a long cyllindrical device stretched from floor to ceiling. It seemed to be clear glass, and inside, a glowing essence floated, oscillated like smoke. It was a bit too bright to stare at for long – so after about ten seconds, Martha looked away.

Still-hooded Peter and Alice were brought near the device. The boy began to whimper, as he knew what was to come. Some wires came from the ceiling, with straps attached, one set near Peter, and one set near his grandmother. Each of them was strapped with one belt around their upper arms, one belt around each wrist, one around their shoulders, then their waists, and their legs were strapped together at the thighs and ankles. One masked figure pushed a few buttons on one of the control panels, and a loud sweeping sound filled the room.

The glowing mist inside the cyllinder began to move faster. Peter and Alice's bodies began to glow, as if they each had a golden aura surrounding them. But they both began to scream in response to the burning. Energy seemed to be flowing from them into the device, a strong wind blew through and around the room, and the noise became unbearable. The three newcomers couldn't speak to each other – but just as well, since they were too stunned and horrified at what they were seeing.

It was not easy to tell how long this went on. It felt like days. The screaming was deafening, and after seeing the fright in the eyes, and hearing it in the voices of the boy and his grandmother, it felt like the universe was crashing down. And then, just as suddenly as they had begun, the whirring and the screaming ceased. The mist went back to meandering absently, and Peter and Alice were unhooked, whimpering, from their restraints and removed from the room.

Without missing a beat, masked men approached Martha and Jack, and grasped at their shoulders and wrists.

"No, use the other male," one of the voices said. "Human males are stronger, better able to withstand the transfer."

Martha was freed, and the masked being approached the Doctor.

Before the attacker could touch him, he said firmly, accompanied by his steely gaze, "I'm not a human male. And my friends are not on offer. Whatever it is you need us for, you'll have to find it somewhere else."

The attacker put his hands to his sides and cocked his head to one side. "Not a human male? What then?"

A pause. "I'm a Time Lord."

One of the masked beings who seemed to be a leader among them crossed the room authoritatively and went toe-to-toe with the Doctor. He removed his mask and revealed a purple face with a triceratops brow, just like the townsfolk they had seen outside. He leaned in close to examine the Doctor's face, and then something spread across his face that almost resembled a smile.

"Are you... the Doctor?" the purple being asked, in awe.

"I am."

A great sigh. "Oh my. Are we ever glad to see you!"


	5. Chapter 5

FIVE

"You're, er... _glad_ to see me, you say?" the Doctor asked.

The purple guy said to his soldiers, "Please! Lay down your weapons. Unhand our guests! They are here to help us." He turned to the Doctor. "I am Tanagirid. I am the Director of Operations here at Earthsafe."

"Earthsafe?" Martha and Jack asked in simultaneous disbelief.

Their horror and incredulity registered. He bowed his head. "What must you think of us? I see now that it must look to you as though we are torturing humans."

"Lil' bit," Jack said tersely.

"Let me explain. Please come with me," Tanagirid said.

The Doctor, Martha and Jack followed the leader into an adjacent room, which was much smaller, much softer, and much quieter. It had a giant screen on one side that showed the Earth, below which there was an unmanned control panel. Tanagirid gestured for the visitors to be seated in some plush lavendar chairs.

He took his place in the front of the room like a professor, and began to speak. "We are called the Roy-Lema Race, our planet is called Korr. We are a benevolent race. Our purpose is to surveille other planets, and attempt to improve conditions, help them through their difficulties, even avert apocalypses if need be."

"How come I've never heard of you?" asked the Doctor, suspiciously.

"Because our pledge is to act in secret. We do not act order to receive thanks or accolades. We do it to help better our neighbors' lives," Tanagirid answered. He pushed a few buttons on the control panel. The screen split into thirteen parts, and a different planet figured in each square. "Currently, our economy can only support us in the surveillance of thirteen planets. We have thirteen companies on Korr, and all Roy-Lemans work for one of them. This company, Earthsafe, is dedicated to the saftey and well-being of planet Earth. I chose to work here because I've always been fascinated by the variety of vegetation and wildlife on Earth. In future, we hope to expand our network to more and more planets and help bring about peace in the universe."

He touched a key, and all planets disappeared from the screen except for Earth. "This is a live feed?" the Doctor asked, putting on his glasses and squinting.

"Yes, it is," Tanagirid said.

"It doesn't look right," the Doctor said.

"What do you mean?" Martha asked. She pointed, "See, we're looking at Europe. There's the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean, France, the English Channel, and Great Britain. Looks all right to me."

"No, it's the wrong color," the Doctor muttered.

Jack joined the Doctor in squinting. "Yeah, you're right. It's too blue. Something's wrong."

Everyone was silent for a bit, as Tanagirid examined the screen.

Then Martha spoke again. "Well, didn't little Alice, Peter's grandmother, say something about a sickness?"

"Yes," Tanagirid said sadly. "Unfortunately, the Earth is experiencing a pestilence. It's out of control. That's why Peter and Alice were brought here. We thought they might be able to help us."

"Well, I imagine that once you blindfolded and burned them, they were much happier to be of assistance," the Doctor said in a cuttingly cheerful, sarcastic way.

"We blindfold the boy because he would not understand our technology," the Tanagirid said. "You must have noticed that the cell in which we keep them has stone walls instead of stainless steel, and we keep them under lock and key instead of digitized pads. You see, our civilization has existed for almost ten thousand years of your Earth years, but on Earth, in Europe where the pestilence is worst, what they call 'Christian' civilization is only in its thirteen-hundred-and-fiftieth year. They are quite crude with their advances, and do not even understand electricity. We do it to prevent their minds from overloading. We try to keep them comfortable in between times when we funnel their attributes, the process you saw."

"So you're telling me that currently, on Earth, it's the year 1350?" Jack asked with his crooked smile.

"Yes," the purple Director answered.

"No wonder they thought the Sonic Screwdriver was witchcraft," the Doctor said in his high-pitched 'eureka' voice. "If they're from London, 1350, it must have looked downright otherworldly to them."

"I'm from London, 2007 and sometimes it still looks downright otherworldly to me as well," Martha said, glancing sidelong at the Doctor.

"Yes, I wondered whether your companions were not from a different time, Doctor," Tanagirid said. "Their speech, dress and demeanor are quite different from any humans we have thus far seen."

"So it's 1350," Jack said, staring at the screen. "No air pollution yet. The sky is still electric blue and the sea is still weed green!"

"But, if it's 1350 on Earth right now, that means it's in the throes of the Black Death," Martha said sadly. "The bubonic plague. It will have wiped out half the Earth's population in the last three years."

"It's the worst pestilence that Korr has seen on any planet," Tanagirid told Martha. "It is a source of great sadness to us that we are unable to bring an end to it. However, seeing you and your friend, knowing that you come from a time in Earth's future gives us hope. At least now we know that Earth will _have _a future." The Director of Operations gave a little, worried smile. Martha smiled back.

He turned his attention back to the Doctor. "Doctor, I must beseech you: please stay here with us on our planet until this crisis is resolved. My team and I, we are Earth experts, but we are at the end of our rope. We have no idea what else to do. We would, of course, give you and your friends lodgings."

"In the circumstances, I don't see how I can refuse," the Doctor said. "We'll stay on one condition: you take Peter and Alice back home. Or at least out into the countryside where they'll be safe from the plague. No more 'attribute extraction' or whatever you call it. We will find a way to end the Black Death without their help."

"Done," Tanagirid said. "We will be only too happy to take away their misery. It has been extremely unpleasant watching beings that we care about suffer so. We just didn't know how else to go about it. They will be sedated and returned to England within the hour." He turned and spoke into a telephone-like device.

In a minute or so, a purple, brow-ridged female entered the room. She was pretty, Martha thought, for an alien.

"This is Eeda, she is our Chief of Interplanetary Relations," Tanagirid told them.

"Oh, like PR," Jack said.

"She will show you to your living quarters, and see that you have everything you need. Get some rest tonight, Doctor, and the Doctor's friends. We have much work to do."

"Their names are Martha and Jack," the Doctor told him. "Just incidentally. You know... in case you care."

"Forgive me, Martha and Jack. Any friend of the Doctor's is a friend to us as well," he said with a little bow.

"Come with me, please," Eeda said sprightly.

The three visitors followed her back outside under the two warm suns, and they entered a grounded vehicle. After driving a short distance, they were delivered to a building which was unmistakably luxurious. The sign outside said "Guest House." Eeda led them up to the top floor.

"This is your room, Doctor," she said, gesturing grandly. It was large and opulent with a giant bed and plush carpets. The curtains moved on command, and a floating dumbwaiter responded to any request given in any language. "The room next door is for your friends."

She showed them a smaller room, but still quite luxurious. The bed was smaller, the carpet a light shade of pink, as opposed to the deep red, and the curtains needed to be moved manually.

"Someone will be round to wake you in the morning," Eeda explained. "And your TARDIS is being delivered this evening as well. We will store it in the cellars of the Guest House. Rest well, all."

No sooner had the Doctor shed his suit jacket and loosened his tie than Martha came barging in.

"I'm not sharing a room with him!" she panted. "I don't think I'm safe over there, the randy bastard."

The Doctor gave a hearty huh-huh-huh, "Well, I'm not safe over there either."

"Right then. I guess we're roommates."


	6. Chapter 6

SIX

"I can't share a room with you – I'm allergic to the wool fibres in your pea coat. Sorry!" Martha said, and then bounced out of the room to take refuge with the Doctor.

Captain Jack Harkness had been around for quite a long time, and Martha was a terrible liar – not that it was a very convincing excuse anyway. Nevertheless he smiled – he hadn't said a word to her or done anything except smile innocently! He wasn't sure if it was _from_ him, Jack, she wanted to flee, or _toward_ the Doctor. Upon reflection, it was probably a convenient combination of both.

She certainly had it bad for the Time Lord, and who could blame her? His new look was quite toothsome. He wondered what the Doctor and Martha would get up to in that great big room of theirs tonight. What did the two of them do in their spare time? He suspected tonight's festivities might have something to do with rigging the dumb waiter to fly sideways or to sing _La Cucaracha_. Or, perhaps they would attempt to sneak out to Earthsafe and try to end the Black Plague on their own.

Most likely, he thought, they would stand in front of the window while the Doctor pointed to different stars and planets and named them, and Martha would listen wistfully, and gaze longingly as he told stories about them. Then they would get sleepy and retire for the night. If the Doctor didn't sleep on the floor, Jack would be shocked.

As he thought about this, he climbed out of his pea coat and braces and unbuttoned his dress shirt about halfway. He smiled sadly. The Doctor had always underestimated him, and Martha probably thought he was just a horny outsider. True enough, but his travels in pansexuality had made him a student of emotion, of body language, of the language of relationships. Five minutes with Martha and he knew so much about her life already – some of where her love life had gone in the past and certainly where her affections were headed now. The Doctor had been a tougher nut to crack, but even he had his tells. His relationship signals screamed _fear_, loud and clear. They were a tragic pair, those two, and they didn't even know it.

And understanding feelings – an oft devalued attribute – meant being able to predict behavior. Sometimes, it could mean getting the jump on an opponent, learning to mistrust a supposed ally before they have a chance to double-cross you. The Doctor and Martha could go ahead and investigate this Earthsafe, Black Death business however they do, but Jack would help in his own way, even if the other two never realised or appreciated it. He was not entirely convinced that the Roy-Lema Race could be trusted, but as a student of interrelationships, he knew he could manipulate an answer out of _somene. _Being a horny outsider had its merit.

He splashed some cold water on his face, quickly fixed his hair and checked his teeth. He left his room, and made his way down to the lobby of the Guest House. A female Roy-Leman sat at the desk reading a book on the planet Jaddsod.

"New hire?" he asked her.

"I take my exams for Jaddsod Preservation, Inc. next week. I'm really nervous!" she exclaimed in a cheerful voice. She closed her book, and looked at the handsome human. "What can I do for you?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a nearby watering hole?"

"Watering hole?" she asked. "I'm not familiar with that term."

"You know, a pub. A bar. A place to go get a drink and talk to some folks," he explained.

"Oh, yes, a bar. Two streets over. A bright green sign."

"Thank you," he said, with a wink, and then left the Guest House.

When he found the bright green sign, he went inside. This looked like just the place. There were, of course, no other humans about, but that didn't matter. He could make conversation with anyone. He went up to the bar, where the bartender asked him in a very neutral tone, "What'll you have?"

Jack, oddly, wasn't able to tell if the barman was intimidated, disgusted by or completely indifferent to his presence there.

"I'm not sure," Jack said. "What's good?"

"Well, most everyone here drinks Yobb."

"Yobb?" Jack asked, pulling his smile into a grimace. "What the hell is that?"

"It's fermented from the rain that collects in Yobbsarck tree leaves. Nice and sweet. Don't know what good it'll do you, though. The intoxicating properties have absolutely no effect on humans. It won't mix with their blood – goes right through. Perhaps you should just have a Shirley Temple."

"How do you know so much about Yobb and human blood chemistry?"

"My brother-in-law works at Earthsafe. A while back, they did some experiments..." suddenly, he quit talking. "Wouldn't interest you."

Jack smiled. "Probably not. So, I'll have a Yobb."

"Whatever," the barman said, as Jack mentally filed away his comments about experimentation. He brought the drink over, and left Jack to scan the room.

He spied a male from across the room. He was drinking something that looked a lot like Yobb, and leaning against the wall speaking to someone. When his conversation partner walked away, he headed for the bar.

He had a less-pronounced brow ridge than the others, and his skin was a slightly healthier, more varying shade of purple. He actually had quite handsome features, and in the Roy-Leman casual dress, he carried himself with a slightly looser air than the others, so his gait was almost human. He sat down at the bar and sipped his drink, then looked up. When he saw Jack, his face lit up. Jack took this as a cue to go and have a chat.

The young Roy-Leman stared at him as he sat down on the next stool over. Jack glanced at him sidelong, and said, "Captain Jack Harkness. And you are?"

There was a delay as the other male continued to stare. Then he said, with a start, "Oh, I'm Feeno. You're a human!"

"Yes, I am," Jack said proudly. "How'd you guess?"

"I work for Earthsafe," he said. "Mailroom. But my studies were in Human personology."

"Personology?"

"Yes – the study of behavior. Norms, beliefs, things like that. I must say, I'm trained to see things in a human being, but I cannot identify your cultural heritage or your religion. Your habit of dress is something I've never seen before."

"I'm a bit out of my time. I was born in the twenty-second century, and my dress is circa 1943," Jack said to Feeno.

"Fascinating! As you probably guessed, I'm trained only up to the 14th century," Feeno said with a smile. This his smile turned to wonder. "But I'm surprised to see you. I thought..."

"You thought humanity might come to an end in the next few years? No such luck, Feeno, we're survivors! Though, there's still work to be done. Some friends of mine are helping in that capacity."

"Oh, you came in with the Doctor, and the female," Feeno said. Jack nodded.

Feeno seemed delighted. He picked up his glass and seemed to drain the Yobb in celebration of the survival of the human race.

"Can I get you another?" asked Jack.

Feeno was delighted still. "Sure! That would be nice," he said, never taking his eyes off the Captain.

The barman brought a second round of drinks, and while Jack enjoyed the taste of the Yobb, he had not been lied to: the fermentation was having no effect on him. Although, it was clear that Feeno had had a few. Ten, then twenty minutes passed. Then an hour, then two hours. The two talked on, and Jack found him fascinating – and attractive. And vice versa. Feeno was taken with Jack's stories of Torchwood, of traveling with the Doctor in the TARDIS, living through the 19th & 20th centuries as an unkillable immortal.

Following his earlier train of thought, Jack realized that "personology" was what he himself was so good at. At the moment, he was making use of his expertise. His goal was intelligence. His method was... well, a bit of tipsy pillow talk. His assessment of the situation: he wasn't sure of the sexual conventions on the planet Korr, whether as a society, they mated across species and/or gender, or even for recreation. But he was sure that _Feeno_ would.

And he wasn't wrong. Whether it was the Yobb, Feeno's fascination with humans or Jack's innate charm, Feeno had no qualms about spending the night in the Guest House with Jack. While the two of them were twisted around each other, Jack couldn't help but think about his life in contrast with the stargazing undoubtedly going on in the large room next door.


	7. Chapter 7

SEVEN

The following morning, as promised, there was a wake-up call. When the car came and picked up Martha and the Doctor in front of the Guest House, Tanagirid was in the backseat to greet them.

"Where is your friend Jack?" he asked.

"He was ill this morning," the Doctor said.

Actually, Jack's exact words had been, "I've got a wicked hangover – I'm throwing my guts up," but the Doctor didn't feel as though their new acquaintance, nor Martha for that matter, needed to be kept abreast of that particular tidbit.

They made small talk until they reached the Earthsafe headquarters. Then, the Director of Operations began speaking about Earth's recent, devastating plague.

"So I am to understand that you _have_ heard of this phenomenon," Tanagirid asked the Doctor and Martha as they walked through the facility.

"Absolutely," Martha answered emphatically. "They teach about it in school to the children, and certainly in med school we've discussed the effects and strains of the buboes that caused it."

"Med school?"

"Yes, I'm studying to be a doctor," she answered.

Tanagirid looked at the Doctor. A pause. "Like him?"

"Not like me," the Time Lord said. "A medical doctor. A kind of healer. Only more with the books and and the science and things like that."

"So... like you," Tanagirid decided.

"Well..." the Doctor said, shrugging.

"I work in a hospital," Martha explained. "When people are sick, they come to the hospital and doctors like me, and nurses, use their expertise to help them recover."

"Nurses?"

"Nurses are a bit like doctors, but they don't go to school for as long," she continued. "They can sometimes give medicines and watch over patients, but doctors make the decisions about what to do with patients."

"Because you are more schooled," Tanagirid asked, trying to understand.

"Right. But don't be fooled: a hospital could not function without the nurses. They may not go to school for four years like we do, but sometimes the patients trust them more, and they spend more time in the trenches with the sick," Martha said.

"That is worrying, that the patients should trust the less-educated more," he commented.

She shrugged. "Not really. We all know why we're there: to help. People need us, and so whomever can be there, whomever can be trustworthy, whomever can make a connection with someone who needs our help, all the better for us. Doctors and nurses, we're like you. We're not in it for the accolades, we just want to see people get better."

She didn't see it, but the Doctor was staring at her with admiration.

"You must be highly revered in your time," Tanagirid said. "To be a female of the species and to be allowed a long program of schooling, and an important decision-making post."

"The female of the species has come a long way since the 14th century, Director," she said with a smile.

"Well, Martha, _we_ revere you. And we've never seen anything like this plague," Tanagirid said. "We will listen to anything you can tell us."

The three of them entered the stark room, where they had seen Peter and Alice tortured the day before.

"What you're seeing is being caused, it is generally believed, by a bacterium called _Yersinia pestis_, which won't even be _discovered_ until the 19th century," Martha explained. "Although there is dissent in the medical and historical community about the role of this particular bacterium... it's been found in the teeth of certain skulls of people known to have died of the Black Plague in the 14th century, but also in some others who died of other causes."

"How was it transmitted? We can't work out even that much!"

"Generally, we believe that the bites of fleas first transmitted it to humans and then the bacteria went airborne, but again, there is dissent. I'd be quite reluctant to claim definitively anything about this disease," she said, deadly serious. "Tread carefully, Director."

"Any lead we can get is better than what we have," Tanagirid said, he voice raising a notch. "How can we kill this bacterium?"

"Well, in the 21st century, it could be treated with aminoglycoside streptomycin," she said.

"Really?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, it's in some antibiotics," she said, happy to have known something that the Doctor didn't.

"And in chemotherapy," he said. "Well, if only someone had known!"

Martha continued, "It could be said that the molecue occurs naturally, but it would have to be extracted from sugars and amino acids. The technology for that will not exist on Earth for about 600 years."

Tanagirid thought for a moment, and then his face lit up. "You have a time machine, do you not?" he asked.

"Now wait just a moment!" said the Doctor. "We can't just go flitting around in time using technology from wherever we feel like it. That's a kind of interference that could cause a paradox or worse!"

"Not to mention," Martha interjected, "It needs to be administered intravenously, and not all at once. It would have to be an IV drip or a series of shots. Based on the way that Peter and Alice reacted to the sonic screwdriver, I'm pretty sure the average 14th-century Londoner would be fairly mistrustful of something like that."

"Indeed you are both correct," Tanagirid said sadly.

The silence was broken when the electronic door opened and in stepped a Roy-Leman officer escorting Captain Jack Harkness.

"Jack," Martha said. "Feeling better?" She had not been privy to his lame hangover excuse, and so walked directly up to him and felt his forehead. "Any vomiting or diarrhea?"

"Calm down, Dr. Jones," he said with a smile, taking her wrist away from his face. "I'm fine." He turned to Tanagirid. "Director, do you think that I could have a few moments alone with my friends?"

"Of course. I will be in the control room if you need me," he said, and exited.

The Doctor bored holes in Jack with his eyes. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyebrows sat raised and uneven.

"What?" asked Jack.

"Wicked hangover?"

"Oh, that," Jack said. "I may have lied."

"I may have noticed," the Doctor said.

"I had an overnight guest," Jack explained. "I didn't want to open the door because you would have seen him, and I didn't want you to freak out just yet."

At this, the Doctor gave a hearty eye-roll, and turned his voice up an octave. "We're trying to help save the Earth, and you're off shagging the host planet?"

"Go ahead and roll your eyes, Doctor," Jack said. "What did you do last night?"

"I showed Martha where the Vesslep Galaxy is," he said. "I was there once while they were having a war."

"Yeah, the Doctor thwarted the final attack that would have destroyed the centrifugal pull and sent all the Vessleppians careening into space," she said, bragging for him.

Inwardly, Jack felt sadly vindicated. So they _had_ been stargazing after all. "Mm, very heroic. But while you were _talking _about that, I was gathering intel from my new friend," Jack said.

"Gathering intel?" Martha asked skeptically. "Really?"

"Well, I didn't say that's _all_ I was doing."

"Clearly."

"It was quite interesting," Jack said, suggestively.

"I don't want to know."

"No, no, gutterbrain. _What I found out_ was quite interesting."


	8. Chapter 8

EIGHT

Martha was a bit worried, but she was determined not to show it. She stuck one hip out to the side, crossed her arms across her chest, and asked, feigning boredom, "What did you find out?"

"I basically found out that these Roy-Lemans are being honest with us," Jack said. "And nice posturing, by the way – I totally bought it."

Martha and the Doctor stared at him.

"Yeah, and?" the Doctor asked, a bit incredulous.

"That's it," Jack said. "They're the good guys. Like us."

"We already knew that," Martha told him.

"No, you already _assumed _that," Jack corrected. "Big difference."

"Well how do you know?" she asked, defensively. "Unless you've got some kind of probe..."

"Martha," the Doctor said, taking her arm and stopping her from possibly saying something that might make Jack turn into an adolescent fiend.

"I know because I'm better at reading people than either one of you," he said.

"You are not!" Martha insisted. "Just because you've shagged one of every species doesn't mean you can read them!"

That stung. He knew that the Doctor and Martha were constantly underestimating him, but it didn't make it any easier to stomach.

"I know _you_, Martha Jones, but I never shagged you," he said remarkably calmly, coming toe-to-toe with her. "Through no fault of my own."

"You think you really know me? Really?"

"Yes, really. I know that you think I'm a randy bastard, and I know that you're not allergic to my pea coat," he said with a crooked smile.

"So what? Doesn't take a genius."

"I know that you are from a wealthy family, but parents must be divorced, and you're probably the middle child. Am I right?"

She caught a chill. "Yes." Then she realised, "The Doctor must have told you."

"No, Martha," the Doctor said softly.

"I know unequivocally that you have a superior mind, and a superior heart that believes in everything you do... believes that the work you do at home, and out in the universe with the Doctor is good work, worth doing."

She stared at him, a bit stunned at his eloquence.

"I know this because I watch you work. I watch you react with your whole body, I listen to your voice rise an octave when you are excited, and sometimes feel your pulse. I have been alive for a long, _long _time, and I have seen some insincerity. _You _are not insincere. And when you throw yourself at something," he said, looking meaningfully at the Doctor, "it is the only thing in your heart at that moment."

The Doctor stared back at Jack with a look that was meant to warn him that he was treading in dangerous territory.

But Jack didn't look away. Instead, he addressed the Doctor. "And I know that you slept on the floor last night. I know why you're too scared not to. But I also know why you stargaze, tell Martha your stories about your dashing heroism, saving planets, averting disaster, in spite of the fact that you think it will lead you to heartache in the end..."

"You're out of line, Jack," the Doctor said, his wounds laid open.

"Tell me I'm wrong."

The Doctor could not, and neither could Martha. She could no longer look him in the eye because she understood what he was implying about the Doctor. It was a can of worms she didn't want to open yet. Not here, not just now.

Not for the first time that day, Jack looked at the two of them with sadness. So much gazing they did, but at the wrong things.

"Feeno, who works in the mail room, is my new friend," Jack explained. "He had a few drinks last night and came back to the Guest House with me. When we were finished, we had a chat. I asked him about a little slip that the bartender made in mentioning to me some experimentation that Earthsafe had done on humans. It was meant as a test. If Feeno tried to deny it, or deny any knowledge of it, I decided he couldn't be trusted. If he came clean, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt."

"And he came clean?" the Doctor asked, interested now that human experimentation was involved. "What did he say?"

"He said it was the darkest period in Korr's history," Jack told him. "He said the companies went corrupt and out of control, and for a while, forgot their mission to protect their thirteen planets. He describes it as a complacency that bred corruption and superiority."

"So they began taking subjects for random experimentation," the Doctor said. It wasn't question. He had seen this sort of thing before – everyone had. It was an old, old story. One society with a kind of dominion over another abusing its power and using living specimens for needless research, or for its own gain.

"Yes, and not just humans. Jaddsodders, Subjects of Pafdor, Hervangians, you name it. And in their experiments, they found out, apparently, that Yobb has no intoxicating effect on humans," Jack said.

"Yobb?" asked the Doctor.

"Yeah, it's like their beer. Anyway, they also found out that planetary disasters can be de-escalated by funneling the attributes of the planet's primary species back into the atmosphere," Jack told him. "They stopped the planet Hervang from burning to a crisp by drawing attributes of its citizens a dumping it back into the air they breathe. Ultimately, it was a good thing, but as an act of mere trial-and-error, incredibly cruel."

"How does that work?" Martha asked.

The Doctor fielded the question. "A planet and its primary species are interconnected. They share a bond. And if a living thing's natural state is to be healthy and good, then it stands to reason that the planet's natural state is to be orderly and fruitful. By funneling the _good_ of its inhabitants, I suppose they found that they could strengthen it, restore the natural order of things."

"I don't know," Jack said. "I don't really understand it."

"That must be what they're trying to do here, funneling the attributes of two humans back into Earth to try to heal the effects of the Black Death," the Doctor said, looking at the clear cyllindrical device in the center of the room, the one that had burned Alice and her grandson. The glowing smoke within seemed thinner and less potent.

He circled around it, looking it up and down, wondering. Then he called out, "Tanagirid!"

The Director stuck his head in from the other room. "Yes, Doctor?"

"We'd like to examine this device!"


	9. Chapter 9

NINE

Tanagirid brought in a massive toolbox, with all sorts of devices, sonic and otherwise. The Doctor opened up the panel that connected the cyllinder to the floor, and inside was a blinding glow. Jack had seen that glow before.

"So _that_ is what the TARDIS was homing on... these folks have one of their own!"

"Well... no," the Doctor said, squatting on the metal floor with a wrench in his hand. "An actual TARDIS is powered by Time Lord energy, among other things. They can't function without us."

"What, then? It wanted a girlfriend?" Jack asked him.

"The TARDIS is sentimental. Perhaps she simply sensed another benevolent energy sorce in need, floudering, failing, and couldn't stand the suffering."

"Sort of like us when we saw Peter and Alice hooked to that machine," Martha offered.

"The device is called an Attribute Outsource Facilitator," Tanagirid said. "It is a technology born out of some experimentation done on the planet Hervang, a type of experimentation which has since been outlawed."

"Yeah, we know all about that," Jack said. "We need to know how it _works._"

"Does it run using a Zed wave digitizer?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, of course," said the Director.

"I'll need to see the vent where the Zed waves get converted for funneling into the Earth's atmosphere," the Doctor said.

"The conversion happens over here, Doctor," Tanagirid said, leading him to a control panel across the room.

The Doctor put on his spectacles and examined the numeric displays. "Are these from Alice and Peter?"

"Yes," Tanagirid said. "It's fading, but some Zed waves will remain for days, particularly the strong ones."

"What's a Zed wave?" asked Martha.

"A living being gives off waves that indicate its personality, its _attributes_," the Doctor told her. "They're called Zed waves, and in most parts of the universe, they are only detectable using a Zed wave digitizer which will distill the wave into a measurable numeric value, so it can be interpreted. A so-called 'psychic' on Earth got ahold of one once and made killing reading people's 'auras'."

He examined closer. "There are only two strong signals left." He pointed at one display. "This is registering Zed wave 68271. That's cold, mortal fear."

"Well, can you blame them?" Martha asked.

He pointed at another. "This one is registering Zed wave 21512. That's the one that you might call 'faith'. The belief in God."

"It must be the grandmother," Jack said. "She was praying when we first saw her. It's probably her strongest quality."

"These are the two strongest waves, fear and faith in God," the Doctor said. He turned to Tanagirid. "And this is the rubbish you've been pumping back into the Earth's atmosphere? These people are frightened out of their wits, and the only recourse they think they have is prayer! And you've just been feeding this!"

"Good grief," Tanagirid whispered, staring now at the numeric displays himself. "Why did it never occur to us to decode those numbers? We were simply following the same protocol that was used on Hervang!"

Just then, an underling came into the room and requested the attention of Tanagirid. The two Roy-Lemans went out of earshot of the three visitors.

"Sir, I have some interesting intelligence regarding this Captain Jack Harkness character," the underling said.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Doctor, Jack and Martha stared at the display and thought of the implications. Earthsafe thought they were helping the problem by torturing poor Alice and poor Peter, but all of their efforts had been making the plague on Earth worse.

"Well, now we know what _not _to do," Martha said. "If only we knew what _to_ do."

"Oh, I know what to do," the Doctor said, without moving his lips. "I just don't have a clue _how_ to do it."


	10. Chapter 10

TEN

"Well, what is it?" Tanagirid asked the underling. "What have you found out, Drobbus?"

"I was in the mailroom earlier today," Drobbus told him. "And I overheard one of the young ones, Feeno, boasting to his friends..." he trailed off, embarassed.

"Yes?"

"Boasting that he had spent the night in copulating with Captain Jack Harkness."

Tanagirid was intrigued. He glanced over at Jack and his friends. "Really? Do you think that this information is reliable?"

"Feeno has never been known to tell a falsehood, sir," Drobbus insisted. "I believe he can be trusted."

"That is very interesting," Tanagirid said with a smile. "I have heard of humans mating with their own gender before, but I have never known a human being to be so open-minded concerning mating across intelligent species."

"Yes, sir, that's why I'm telling you this."

"Why, exactly?"

"Because I reported it to my superior in the correspondence department, and he felt that the Captain's most unusual behavior indicates an _angle_," Drobbus said stiffly

"An angle?"

"Yes, a ploy. He feels that the Captain must be using us somehow, trying to gather intelligence for malevolent purposes," said Drobbus. "That is why he suggested I bring this information to you, the Director of Operations."

Tanagirid was amused, but unconcerned. "It will be duly noted, Drobbus. Thank you for taking time out to let me know. You are dismissed."

* * *

"I think our talents could be put to better use if we split up," the Doctor announced to Tanagirid, Jack and Martha.

Martha tried to quash the feeling of hurt. She wondered if he was just trying to get rid of her... but she always wondered things like that. She was now to the point where she was sensitive to everything the Doctor said, and every move he made in her presence. And until earlier today, she had assumed he was oblivious to all of it.

She sighed. "What do you need from me?"

"I think I can solve this," he said. "But if I can't, we're going to need a way to solve it medically. That's your arena. Try to work out ways to do it without using the TARDIS to transport technology... but if that ends up being our only recourse, then it's what we'll have to do."

Martha was shocked at this revelation, but she assented. She was determined not to let him down, even though she knew he could probably end this thing on his own.

"What about me?" Jack asked. Martha thought he looked remarkably child-like at that moment, since it was so rare that Captain Jack wasn't sure what to do.

"You can help me, I think," the Doctor told him. "You're good with emotions. I think that's just the sort of expertise we're going to need here, if we're going to triumph over this blasted machine."

Jack smiled. Finally – a nod toward _his_ strengths, in something that the Doctor wasn't so great at.

"Do you have a laboratory or something? A computer, maybe?" Martha asked Tanagirid. He nodded and motioned for her to follow him. The two of them left the room, as the Doctor began to fiddle with the Attribute Outsource Facilitator.

Jack went to work on the Zed wave digitizer, but he didn't get very far.

"Is there a rhyme or a reason to this thing? I mean, is there a logical order in which the attributes appear in the digital sequence, or is it all screwed up?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"Emotions are always all screwed up," the Doctor said without looking at him. When he said 'screwed,' it was forced, exaggerated, agitated.

For once, Jack was unaware of the Doctor's emotional undertones. "I just mean, you were able to look at the numbers and know what they represented. How did you do that? Is there an order? Is there a manual for these emotions... attributes or whatever?"

"No, Jack, there's no manual for emotions," the Doctor answered. Now, no one could mistake his animosity.

"Oh, I get it," Jack said. "You kept me here so you could scold me for pointing out that Martha likes you. And kind of vice versa."

"Well, it was bloody arrogant of you," the Doctor said, peeking at Jack over the top of his glasses. "Laying open all that... _feeling _just to show how clever you are. You could really hurt someone that way."

"You never treat me like an equal," Jack complained. "You just think I'm in it for the shag, and that's it."

"I don't think that, Jack, I never have. Not even remotely. Besides," the Doctor reminded him, taking a wrench from the toolbox, tossing it in the air and catching it. "I'm not the one who challenged you. It was Martha."

"Well, she treats me like a dog who humps your leg," he said.

"That's a bit on-the-nose, I'd say," the Doctor said with a smirk, loosening further the floor panel.

"I'm serious, Doctor."

"I know you're serious. But it was irresponsible. Not to mention the fact that you acted like a superior twit," the Doctor said, stopping his work to look Jack in the eye.

"All right, I apologise for being arrogant. But I won't apologise for laying open your emotional wounds, or hers. It needed to be said. You are both my friends, and you are both languishing out in no-man's-land when you could be enjoying the fruits of the vine together! It hurts me to see that. The two of you have got to stop tiptoeing around each other. Stop stargazing and start..."

"Being more like you?" the Doctor asked with one eyebrow cocked.

"Well, no," Jack conceded. "Being more like sentient beings. You have feelings and so does she – embrace them!"

"I _can't_ embrace them. You claim to know why. End of discussion."

"That's a cop-out, Doctor. Everyone is scared. But what makes it great is when you can get beyond that! When you can get past the fear and see how great love and sex and _emotion_ can be, and that there was nothing to be afraid of!"

There was a long pause while the two men looked at each other. Then the Doctor lay down on his back, sticking his head in the hole in the floor. Jack had seen him many times this way with his head in the heart of the TARDIS.

"I didn't ask you to stay here so I could scold you, Jack," the Doctor said, his voice muffled beneath the floor. "I just want to point out to you that... there is no manual for emotions. Some of us aren't as lucky as you... some of us don't know _exactly_ what to do with them at _any _given time, and we aren't always comfortable when our dirty laundry is hung out for the world to see. You shouldn't do that to people – it's juvenile. Especially when it comes to..." he stopped short.

"I know," Jack said. "Why don't you let me help you?"

The Doctor pulled his head up and looked at the Captain. He seemed reflective. "Fine. If we can save humanity from the Black Death, you can help me work out what to do about..." he gestured blindly.

"Martha?"

"Yes, Martha."

"It's a deal," Jack promised, knowing full well that the plague _would_ eventually be erradicated. The Doctor knew it too. His agreeing to let Jack help him showed progress.


	11. Chapter 11

ELEVEN

"Blast," muttered the Doctor.

"What's up?" Captain Jack asked, a bit startled by the Doctor's speaking after over an hour of silence.

They had switched places, and now, Jack had his head in the floor and the Doctor was working at the Zed wave digitizer with the sonic screwdriver.

"I've been trying to modify the levels of certain attributes from the samples taken from Alice and Peter," the Doctor said. "Like taking down the level of fear and amping up the intelligence or resilience or something."

Jack sat up. "No such luck?"

"Nope," the Doctor said. He liked to pop that "p" normally, but he wasn't himself right now. His hope was dwindling. "It took me half an hour to figure out how to lower the levels of anything, and then when I did that, it lowered the levels of everything."

"That's odd," Jack said. "It seems like anything that can be digitized and synthesized into numbers that way should be easy to isolate."

The Doctor put down the sonic screwdriver and ran his hands exasperatedly through his hair. "Trouble is, emotions and attributes are intertwined and interdependent. So are numbers. It's like trying to isolate the red in a bucket of purple paint." He sat down with his back against the wall and his knees up. He had no intention of quitting, but he needed to give his mighty brain a bit of a rest.

Jack went back to work in the hole in the floor. After a few moments, he said, "Wait a minute! That's not right. Doctor, come here!"

The Doctor got up and crossed the room to the Facilitator, and lay on his stomach to see what Jack could see. He was looking at a mishmash of wires that connected the Zed wave digitizer to the Attribute Outsource Facilitator. There was a tiny mechanical whatsit that looked like an old-fashioned balance scale sitting right on top of where it looked like the two machines connected.

Jack pointed at it. "When I first stuck my head in here, that thing was perfectly balanced. Now it's all askew. Do you think that might have something to do with it?"

"If the AOF is a sentient being like the TARDIS, it might be doing something to prevent us from throwing these people's personalities out-of-whack," the Doctor said, excitedly. He stood up. "Of course! This is a company whose fundamental desire is the betterment of humankind! Of course the sentient device that reads human functions has a basic respect for the human condition and personality! That's why it won't let us change anything about Alice or Peter's psychic make-up. It would see it as a corruption!"

"Can it be reasoned-with? Convinced?" asked Jack.

"Probably not," the Doctor said, pacing now. "Its morality is very black-and-white. What it feels, it feels."

Jack sighed. "Life should be so simple."

As if on cue, Martha entered the room with Tanagirid. She did not have an encouraging look on her face.

"Any luck?" the Doctor asked her.

"Plenty. All of it cruelly placed."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that there are a few antibiotics and fungi on Earth that could be administered orally, but we don't have mass amounts of them. There are others that do occur in mass amounts, but they need to be extracted with unavailable technology. There are a few here on Korr, but they are all either poisonous to humans or too abrasive to be administered orally. It would have to be intravenous, and we've already established that that would be frowned upon in the 14th century. I'm not ready to give up yet, but this is not going to be easy." She sighed heavily. "How about you?"

"I've been trying to isolate attributes, to turn down the volume on the unneeded ones and up the volume on the more useful ones, but it can't be done," he said.

"The machine is sentient – the Doc here thinks it has too much respect for human personality to let Peter and Alice's make-up be toyed with," Jack explained to her.

"The best I might be able to do is ramp up the Zed waves' power so that more of _all_ the attributes get into Earth's atmosphere," the Doctor said to Tanagirid.

"Go on," Tanagirid said.

"Well, Alice and Peter's signals are fading, there wouldn't be enough left of them to do this. Someone else would have to suffer the burn. It would mean that whomever you choose to extract from next would be delivered as a whole package, but their strength and reslience would be multiplied from that of Alice or Peter. Trouble is, so would their fear and piousness. That's the problem with the 14th century. Well, one of them."

"It might be worth a shot," Jack said to Tanagirid. "And, maybe we could give drugs to some of them in whatever quantities there are on Earth, and maybe we can convince a few of the more worldly ones to let us give it to them intravenously. Maybe combined, those three small measures will have a great effect."

"There's still the matter of _who_ gets to be the one to suffer the burn," Tanagirid said. "I hate to see more humans endure the Outsourcing process."

"You sacrificed before – you'll be able to do it again. It's for the greater good. When you're trying to save a civilisation," the Doctor said sadly, a million memories clouding his mind, "Difficult decisions need to be made. But this time, perhaps you should choose someone who is at his prime – not a small child or an old woman."

Tanagirid was reflective. "Very well, Doctor. I already made the decision to put this project in your hands – I would be hard-pressed to change my mind at this juncture. If you think that increasing the strength of the Zed waves will help, then by all means, do your work."

The Doctor resumed his place on the floor with his head in the hole near the bright light. His companions heard him say, "It's all right, it's all right. I'm not going to upset the balance, I'm just going to make them stronger."

Martha and Jack looked at each other, unsure of whether to laugh or be amazed.

After watching for several minutes in silence, Martha asked, "So this means that strength and bravery or what-have-you will be juiced up, along with everything else?"

"Yep," the Doctor answered from below.

"But, even if those things were the greatest strengths, wouldn't that just help them _endure_ the problem, rather than solve it?"

The Doctor stopped work. "I suppose so." Then he went back to it. "But it's the only recourse we've got. Perhaps if the human constitution could be made stronger, more people would begin to _survive_ the plague – then it wouldn't be a question of finding a cure."

"But even at that, wouldn't pretty much everyone in the world be dead afraid right now? Don't fear and bravery counteract each other, especially when the fear is stronger? I'm sorry to be so negative, Doctor, but I just don't know about this," she said, apologetically.

He popped his head out of the trapdoor, and said, "It's done."

Martha was disappointed, and a bit irritated.

"What you need," the Doctor said, standing up and addressing Tanagirid, "is to be more selective about who you extract from."

"We may not have that luxury, Doctor. We must abduct the humans in the night. We come in where and when we can, and try to leave without being seen. Our presence would cause mass hysteria," he explained.

"You'll have to find a way. With this amplitude, you'll only need to do the extraction one time, which means less suffering. But you'll need to find someone who _embodies_ the attributes we need, or else you'll pollute Earth's atmosphere irrevocably."

This made sense to everyone – find a person, or persons, who _embody_ the qualities needed to rid the Earth of the Black Plague.

"But what do we need?" asked Martha.

"Well, you've already said it: bravery only helps people get through problems, not solve them," Jack offered. "So maybe that isn't the most useful."

"Resilience?" the Doctor said. "No, same problem."

"Compassion?" Martha asked.

"Really, compassion?" Jack inquired. He couldn't see the connection.

"Yeah... or sort of... the spirit of helping each other," she explained. "That way, the ones who are immune (there is a group of people who are genetically immune to this plague), even if they don't know they're immune, will have more drive and initiative to maybe take the at-risk out of the larger cities."

"And help keep people who've lost their families from despair," the Doctor added.

"The people in the Jewish ghettos would be more inclined to step in and help, since the plague largely didn't reach them," Martha thought aloud. "Perhaps they could open 'clean homes' or something."

Jack clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Okay, getting warmer. What else? What would really slow the dwindling population?"

"Well, there's always _replacement_ of the population," the Doctor offered. "More babies."

"Yeah, I'd expect people are too afraid to have children right now," Martha said.

"More likely, they're too sick to conceive," Jack said.

"So maybe what we need is a boost in the reproductive imperative," the Doctor said, a light shining in his eyes. "An inclination toward sexual...ness!" he cried out, tripping over his words.

The room was silent. And then all eyes slid toward Jack. "Aw geez," he said. "You really think I'm the _embodiment_ of the reproductive imperative?"

"Though you do not mate to reproduce," Tanagirid said to him, "your pansexuality shows that copulation is an important component in your life. It is a drive that is strong enough to bring you outside of heterosexual orientation, and outside of your species."

Jack stared at him, jaw gaping. "How do you know that?"

Tanagirid seemed a bit embarrassed. "It was a piece of intelligence brought to me by someone in correspondence. Apparently, Feeno in the mailroom is a bit of a braggart."

"Minx," Jack muttered.

"I think it makes some sense, Jack," the Doctor said. "Even if you aren't out there, you know, mixin' it up for reproductions' sake, you are the most..."

"Yes?" Jack said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"...sexually energetic human being I know," the Doctor said. "Well, not _know_, know. But I know."

Jack thought it over, but it didn't take long. He was nearly as committed to the betterment of the human race as the folks at Earthsafe, as well as the Doctor himself. The burning sensation was a dreadful thought, but it was not a difficult decision to make. He would gladly have his attributes outsourced in order to save mankind.

That only left the question of the spirit of helping others. What readily-available human being with (almost) a medical degree did they know who could fulfill that need?


	12. Chapter 12

TWELVE

"I was very moved by what you said," Tanagirid told Martha. "About how doctors and nurses help people for the sake of helping, that you do not do it for accolades or recognition."

Martha felt all eyes on her, just as they had been a few minutes ago on Jack.

"Me?" she asked.

"How can you be so surprised?" Jack asked her, smiling at her proudly. "You personify the spirit of compassion, helping others. What better person is there than a medical doctor from the 21st century, with advance knowledge of this plague? It looks like it's Christmas on Earth!"

She paused, tentative, afraid. "What do _you_ think?" she asked the Doctor, her voice fragile, her ego even more so.

He smiled. "I think you're utterly daft if you don't believe you're the perfect person for this, Martha Jones. If you're willing."

"I'm willing," she said without hesitation.

He hugged her close to him, and she could hear his double heartbeat and feel his inhuman warmth. The pleasure of it melted her tentativeness, and she closed her eyes and basked.

Like Jack, she was not overly excited about the thought of the burning sensation overtaking her as her attributes were outsourced, but she reminded herself of why she decided to become a doctor. Selflessness, no accolades, never expecting thanks. Sacrificing personal comforts, sharing what she knew, what she could do, with those who could not do it for themselves. She knew it was who she was, and this was her chance to help save the world.

The Doctor released her, and it was back to reality.

"Martha, Captain Jack, we shall fit you up in the harnesses in a moment," Tanagirid said. "Allow me to inform my team, and then we shall begin the process." In a bustle, he left the room.

The three were quiet for a long moment, and then the Doctor smiled grandly and said, "Martha Jones, you're about to save your planet! What will you do next?"

"I dunno," she said, checking out her cuticles in a mock-casual fashion. "Maybe get a manicure, take a tropical holiday." She smiled equally grandly.

Tanagirid came back into the room more quickly than expected.

Very serious now, the Doctor asked both his friends, "Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely," Jack said. "I can't think of a better way to help my fellow man than to lend my gargantuan libido."

Martha giggled.

"Gee, there's a phrase I never thought I'd get to say out loud," Jack said, laughing along with her.

"Martha?" the Doctor asked, not finding amusement.

"I'm fine with it, really. I got into this to do some good – now I'm doing it."

He kissed her on the forehead as one of the Director's team took her gently by the arm to be fitted into the harness. Jack was already halfway into his, though the shoulder straps were rather tight. The last person to be fastened into this harness was Alice, who had smaller shoulders, though she was a healthy-sized woman.

A high-pitched squeal began mounting, like the sound of an airplane revving up. The Facilitator was nearly ready to be called to action.

As they strapped her wrists, Martha could feel the vibrations from the machine, the power it possessed, and for the first time, she had a real idea of the burning sensation she'd be feeling. It was going to be horrific, but short. She knew she could take it, if it meant saving millions from the plague.

Since the last person to be strapped into Martha's harness was Peter, an eight-year-old, she found that her shoulder straps were quite tight as well. Tighter than Jack's as a matter of fact, but after examination, two of the operators decided that the attributes could still be extracted. Same went for the waist strap. Martha was not a vain woman, but was suddenly immeasurably glad for her small waist.

"Are you ready, Miss Jones, Captain Harkness?" a voice said from across the room.

They both choked out a weak assent. Then the room filled with the same large sweeping sound they had heard when they first entered this room the day before. The glowing mist, which had dwindled to almost nothing, inside the cyllinder began to swirl once more.

And then Martha's shoulder straps gave way and fell to the floor. The machine powered down on Tanagirid's call of "stop!" Martha was bitterly disappointed. She had been a millisecond away... she wanted it over with... she had been ready! And now, she had to wait again, think some more about how much it was going to hurt.

One of the operators came to her, and said, "Sorry Martha, we should have just gone and found you a harness that fit properly. I've sent someone to storage to see what we could dig up. In the meantime, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a bit longer." He was genuinely apologetic.

Tanagirid spoke up. "Well, there's no sense in wasting time. Earth needs us, my friends! Let's do the outsource on Captain Jack while we're waiting, and we can strap Martha up properly when we're finished."

"Fine idea, sir," the operator said. He carefully unhooked Martha from the machine, while Jack watched.

"When you're finished," Martha said to Jack. "I'm going to ask you how it was."

"Don't worry – I'll lie," he promised with a smirk.

"Thank you," she said, relieved.

The Attribute Outsource Facilitator fired up again. The hum filled the room, the glowing smoke began to swirl, Captain Jack began to glow. And then there was a loud crash, and Jack went limp, before he could even begin to scream.

Immediately the machine was stopped, and all movement in the room ceased. Everyone was deadly still until Martha rushed toward him and felt his pulse.

"There's nothing," she said somberly to the Doctor.

The Roy-Lemans crowded round him to disengage him from the machine. They too felt his pulse, and even measured his vitals with instruments Martha could not identify. Many of them had tears in their eyes when Tanagirid announced, "He's dead."


	13. Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

Of course, the Doctor and Martha both knew full well that Captain Jack would be alive and kicking again in a matter of a few minutes. But the Roy-Lemans did not know that. The Doctor attempted to calm them, but the Earthsafe employees were inconsolable. If there had been any doubt before that these beings were lovers of humankind, that all went out the window now.

When Jack woke up gasping, wheezing as always, he startled the Roy-Lemans terribly. Once they got over the initial shock, the room filled with a palpable sense of relief. They had not killed a human being, and they had not killed a friend of the Doctor's. Korr would indeed continue to revolve around its two suns.

Even better, they checked their monitors, and the transfer had been entirely successful. The atmosphere of Earth was now teeming with the Zed waves of the reproductive imperative, that which is needed to replenish the Earth's devastated population. Not to mention everything else that Captain Jack had to offer!

But while the Earthsafe folks were rejoicing in their success, congratulating Jack and welcoming him back, the horrible reality of what had _almost_ happened hit the Doctor: Martha had escaped the same fate only by a fraction of a second. A fingersnap longer, and she'd be dead on the floor as well, with no chance of resurrection. The thought made the Doctor sick inside, especially when he realised that it was _he _who had caused it. The Facilitator was merely painful until a little while ago. Then he had rigged it to go supersonic. Now, it was a killer. It not only outsourced attributes, it sucked away life force.

Some of the workers took Martha aside to examine her, to find out if she had any wounds from the short time she was hooked up to the Facilitator.

Jack escaped the throng of Roy-Lemans and joined the Doctor, who was standing alone in a fog of anger.

"Hey, I know what you're thinking," he said to the Time Lord.

"I almost killed her, Jack," the Doctor said through gritted teeth. "I almost killed Martha."

"But you didn't," Jack assured him, with one hand on his shoulder. "Look over there. She's alive, well, and smiling, even."

But the Doctor was tied up in knots. The anger turned inward made him want to throw himself against the wall, beat his head on the stainless steel surface until the truth went away. He shook himself away from Jack and reeled in a circle.

"Don't you get it?" he asked, baring his teeth with anger. "_I almost killed Martha. _If dumb bloody luck hadn't intervened, she'd be dead right now. _Dead_. Do you understand what that means for a normal person? On the floor. Gone forever. And it would have been my fault! And I wouldn't have gotten to..."

The Doctor's rant stopped short. His body was suddenly very tired.

"I wouldn't have gotten to tell her," the Doctor said softly, frowning at the floor. "How could I have been so careless?"

"You did what you thought was best for our planet, like you always do," Jack said carefully. "Her death would not have been your fault, just like _my_ death, just now, was not your fault."

The Doctor felt ashamed of himself. He snapped his head up to look at Jack. "Jack, I'm sorry. I didn't think..."

"Aw, it's okay. I wasn't fishing for an apology," Jack said with a warm smile. "As I said, _it wasn't your fault_." He paused for a carefully calculated amount of time, and then said, "Now, if she had died and you hadn't gotten to tell her, then that actually _would _have been your fault. That's a hint, by the way."

The Doctor stared at the ceiling for a long while. Jack was pretty sure he saw the glimmer of a few tears that never quite got spilled. Then the Doctor looked at him, and said, "I wouldn't know where to begin, Jack."

"The woman just almost died in order to save her planet, and you don't know where to begin to tell her you love her? My God, you _are_ clueless."

It was decided that the visitors should retreat to the Guest House, and that everyone should have a good night's sleep before they attempted to settle upon what should be done next. The Earth was still in the throes of plague, and it was going to take more than the urge to reproduce to pull the planet through this. They needed the spirit of helping others as well, but they could not get that without killing Martha, or another human being. This was quite a calamity into which they had painted themselves.

But it was late, and everyone was exhausted and emotionally drained. So Jack went to his room, and the Doctor and Martha went to theirs. But before they went their separate ways, Jack whispered to his friend, "Don't waste another night."


	14. Chapter 14

**Here we go... hold on to your seats.**

FOURTEEN

The Doctor shut the door behind him with those four words from Jack ringing in his ears: "Don't waste another night." Jack had his faults, but he also had his moments of wisdom. As frightening as it was, this was one of them. In spite of his physical condition, Jack was a live-for-the-moment kind of man. He understood that tomorrow, he and the Doctor would still be there, but the ones they loved might not be. It was time for the Doctor to get aboard.

Martha was rummaging around in the Roy-Leman equivalent of a mini-bar. "You know, I know it didn't work out like we thought it would, but I think we did a good thing today."

He watched her intently, discarding scenario after scenario. _Martha, I love you. Martha, thanks for almost dying today – I think you're amazing – want to live in sin for a bit? Martha, the unthinkable has happened!_

No words seemed sufficient for the hurricane-like emotion that he was feeling. As he watched her, it got stronger.

She came out with two small bottles of Yobb and held them up for him to see. "I feel like celebrating. I know this stuff doesn't have any effect on us humans," she said, "but we can just pretend."

He approached her, and the serious look on his face completely deadened her smile. He took the bottles from her and set them down on the bar.

"Actually Martha, I can't pretend anymore," he told her.

She dropped her arms to her sides. She was overcome with a feeling of dread. Oh God, what was he about to say? "Can't pretend what?"

She wanted to look away from him, but couldn't force herself. She was transfixed, in a morbid sort of way, as though she were looking down the barrel of a gun.

She was so surprised, that she almost pulled away when he took her face in his hands and examined her features. She had gentle dark skin and liquid, expressive eyes. Right now, she was looking at him with quizzical fear, but when she smiled, it could light up several galaxies. He stared into her eyes for a long time, and she stared back. For him, the emotion was mounting every second, and the longer he gazed, the more in love he fell, the more urgent he felt.

He realised he'd been holding his breath. At long last, he exhaled wildly and pulled her forehead against his. "Martha..." he whispered quite suddenly. "I can't believe I almost lost you today," he said, still whispering, but more accurately hissing, rasping with desperation. His hands squeezed at her cheeks and neck, and he felt he might crush her in order to keep her.

She could feel this urgency, and it made her want to burst herself. The tears were flowing freely now, and she was grasping at his pin-striped lapels. She closed her eyes. She turned her face up so that now, their noses were touching. "But you didn't lose me," she whispered. "I'm here – I'll always be here for you."

"Just the thought..." a breath from him.

"Don't think about it," she said, now just above a whisper "don't ever think about it again. I am here... and I'm yours."

"You're mine..." It wasn't a question.

"I'm yours."

For a long time, they stood that way, clinging to each other. Both crying, both breathing hard, both _desperately_ in love. The day's trauma, the whirlwind of confusion and frustration, the past year's foibles... the fervor they were creating now was pushing all of that away. Just to be together, just to be touching, to share this moment _finally_, was the most beautiful, essential thing in the universe.

He hadn't wanted to let go of her, ever, and so he was still holding her face in his hands. He ran his thumb gently over her lips, and she caught it and kissed it. That one small gesture sent an impulsive shiver up his spine, just as reckless and urgent as everything else he was feeling. Suddenly he was kissing her – hard. He could not shake the feeling that he wanted to devour her, or for her to devour him, that the two of them should consume each other like fire. It was the hungriest, the most voracious he had ever felt.

She was knocked off-balance and she felt her back hit the wall. Unconscious of everything except her, he kept pressing, kept kissing. She returned his ardor as much as she could between ecstatic sobs, and wrapped her arms around his torso. She held tight as their lips sought each other uncontrollably, and the temperature rose in the room.

Finally he pulled away from her, still unwilling to take his hands away from her beautiful face. He knew she would not fade away if he let go, but he didn't want to take the chance. They were both breathless from the kiss, both insane with something like a painful ecstasy. Their eyes were locked, and their lives now completely entwined.

"It's going to be tough," he said to her, still breathless.

"I know. I don't care," she insisted, still shedding tears.

"I'm 900 years old. I'll probably live another 900 years."

"And I won't," she acknowledged. "I don't care!"

He pulled her toward him again, away from the wall, and kissed her again with more control, though still with a tangible urgency.

"I have a past," he told her.

"I know! So do I!"

This time she lunged at him, forcing him to take two steps back. Again, they found their lips together and their passions flaring.

"I've killed before," he told her.

"I don't care."

More kissing, moving further from the wall.

"We have got a lot to sort through," he said.

"I know."

"We have got a lot to talk about."

"Yes, but do we have to do it _right now?_" she asked, before throwing herself against him again.

"You're not going to like everything you hear, Martha, and I mean that. And not just the violence and death," he said, taking her by the shoulders, trying to steady them both.

Now it was her turn to grasp his face in her hands, and pull his forehead down toward hers. She said, her voice fragile and cracking, "I don't care how hard it is. The universe itself cannot keep me from you now."

Their lips met again violently, their arms curled around each other like vines, and all talk dissipated.


	15. Chapter 15

FIFTEEN

Captain Jack was reading the Roy-Leman Manifesto, which was left in the Guest House night stand when he heard a knock. He thought it must be the Doctor in a tizzy over what to say or do. Or Martha all weepy and rejected.

"Oh, for the love of..." he said, standing up and striding to the door.

On the other side stood Tanagirid, looking somber.

"Captain Harkness, may I come in?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," Jack said, standing aside to let his new friend enter. "And you can call me Jack. Would you like a Yobb?"

"Er, yes, please," Tanagirid said, sitting stressfully down in a nearby chair. Jack retrieved one from his own, less impressive, mini-bar and handed it to the Earthsafe Director. He sat down on the bed and sipped at his own drink.

Neither of them said anything for a while, but they drank together in silence. Tanagirid's expression grew more and more pained, and Jack's sense of something amiss was more and more heightened. Finally, Jack asked, "So, did you just come here for a Yobb, or are you going to tell me why you look like your favorite kitten was just impaled on a stick?"

"There is a problem with the outsource," Tanagirid said, not looking at him.

Dread. "What sort of problem?"

"First thing you need to know, Cap... Jack, is that it's not your fault," the Director of Operations assured him.

"_What _is not my fault?"

"Put it into perspective: the reproductive imperative is now the second-strongest drive on Earth."

"What is the strongest, just out of curiosity?" asked Jack, appealing to his own vanity.

"Preservation of the human race itself," Tanagirid told him. "Which is good, but not terribly useful, as in this situation, it only serves to meld into the reproductive imperative."

"Fantastic. What does that mean for Earth?"

"It means that people are copulating in the streets, in back alleys, anywhere they can, with anyone they can. There is a plague that was already spreading like wildfire..."

"We just fanned the flame, didn't we?"

"Yes. Time moves differently here on Korr – already four days have gone by on Earth since we extracted your attributes, and only a few hours here. If we wait another day, we'll lose a fortnight on Earth, and that's time – and lives – we can't afford to sacrifice. We need something to counteract the effects, and we need it..."

"A.S.A.P."

"Excuse me?"

"You need it pronto. As soon as possible. Like, before morning light."

"Yes. However we still are not sure what to do about it. We cannot draw from you again, and we cannot draw from Martha without killing her."

"And you want me to ask the Doctor," Jack said, not finishing the Director's thought, so much as reading between the lines.

"I wouldn't ask you to intervene for us, were it not for his demeanor when he left headquarters today," Tanagirid said. "He seemed angry. Like a powder-keg."

"Yeah, he's having some personal issues," Jack said. "All right, I'll ask him. Come with me."

Jack led Tanagirid next door, not sure whether to hope that he _was _interrupting something, or that he wasn't. He knocked on the door.

* * *

No words had been spoken, no sound had been heard in the large room next to Captain Jack's for about a half hour. The occupants were lying on top of the large bed, he in his pin-stripes, she in her jeans and white tee-shirt, just kissing. She lay supine, and he on top, supported on his side by one elbow, just exchanging soulful kisses, grasping at each others' lips. Just allowing their mouths to intertwine, their tongues to dance together, their hands to enlace, their noses to brush against each other, their eyes to meet...

And then the knock came.

They both looked disgustedly at the door, but Martha smiled at the irony, and as usual, her smile made everything all right. He got up and reluctantly answered it. The serious look on Jack's face prevented the Doctor from crawling down his throat with admonishment.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked, low and deep.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt, Doctor," Jack said, and he meant it. He knew on sight, without asking, that something about the Time Lord was different. "But we have a serious problem."

Martha appeared in the doorway behind the Doctor, and asked, "What's happening?"

Jack and Tanagirid took a step backward, and the Doctor and Martha stepped out of their room, closing the door behind them. Immediately, Martha grasped the Doctor's arm and stroked it, in a gesture of unmistakable affection that Jack had never seen her do before. Without a doubt, something had changed between them. With the new developments, Jack had the gut feeling that whatever happened from here on out was going to be messy.

Tanagirid explained the problem, and then waited for Jack to ask the Doctor's help.

"It looks like they need you one more time – Earth needs you," the Captain said.

"Tanagirid, go to headquarters and power up the Facilitator. I'll be along in a bit," the Doctor said. The Director did as he was asked, and the three of them were left alone again in the corridor.

"Martha, will you please bring me my coat?" the Doctor said softly.

"Yes, and mine as well. I'll come with you," she said.

He turned an faced her directly, and took her hands. The way he dipped his head to speak to her more intimately, Jack thought, it wouldn't have taken a personology genius to see the change here.

"I'd rather you didn't, love," he said. "We may have to go back to the drawing-board tomorrow with medical solutions, and I think you should get some rest. I can function on 45 minutes' sleep – you can't."

"All right, then." At that moment, she probably would have agreed to anything he said. Then she disappeared into the room.

Jack looked at the Doctor apologetically.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"What do you mean _what_? I'm sorry to have interrupted you, that's _what_."

"Just what do you think you interrupted, Imperative Man? Not all of us are wired like you," the Doctor insisted, vainly.

"Please. I can read people like books, and the two of you are like a neon sign!"

"Well, this is bloody inconvenient," the Doctor hissed at Jack, gesturing in the direction down the corridor where Tanagirid had disappeared.

"Oh boo-hoo. I can tell that you haven't had your clothes off yet, and neither has she, so it _could_ have been _a lot _more inconvenient, buster!"

"I was taking my time," the Doctor whispered. "I'm not you."

"Yeah, well, I can see that, but hello? Black Plague? People dying by the hundreds of thousands? Earth in peril?"

"I know, I know," the Doctor said, waving his hand dismissively.

Martha re-appeared with the Doctor's tan trench coat.

He turned attentively toward her again, and before taking his coat from her, he kissed her forehead. "You? Sleep," he said.

"I'll be here when you get back," she assured him. She did not agree to sleep or even to stay in the room... she simply vowed to be there when he returned.

And what the Doctor and Jack didn't see as they were leaving the building was that Martha was following them furtively, staying carefully out of sight.


	16. Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

After three hours in the big stainless-steel room, the sonic screwdriver had, for some reason, proved incapable of reversing the damage it had done. The Doctor, that is, proved incapable. And tired and miserable.

The Attribute Outsource Facilitator had been unwavering – stubborn. It would not reverse the ramp-up the Doctor had given it. In fact, it rebuffed the screwdriver to the point of weakening both devices. The Zed wave digitizer was equally unsuccessful because it did not perform the actual extraction, it simply gave emotions a number. They even tried to modify the harnesses, go to the power-source, dilute the effect of Zed waves on Earth. Nothing had worked.

Another 60 hours had passed on Earth, and now it had been nearly a week in its state of reproductive imperative and increased spread of plague. But the Roy-Lemans reported that it takes nigh on one Earth month to extract a human being from the planet and bring him or her back to Korr, and it would take even longer if they were to stake out the cities and find the proper candidate for outsourcing. The only suitabe human being they had handy was Martha.

The Doctor sat on the ledge with his feet dangling into the hole in the floor, and his head in his hands. Jack sat nearby with his back against the wall, looking despondent. Tanagirid was doing the same, as were a few other Earthsafe employees. Their hope had been in the Doctor, and now it looked like that was going away, along with their Earthly charges. The room was a morgue, except for the bright light in the floor.

Jack asked, "Do you think the AOF is trying to teach us a lesson? It won't go back to the way it was because _we_ mucked it up?"

"Maybe," said the Doctor.

"So maybe that means _someone else_ could reverse the effects? Someone for whom it didn't carry a grudge," Jack offered, thinking aloud.

"I could give the sonic screwdriver to Martha," the Doctor said. "But what then? I'd have to talk her through it... it would still be _me_ trying to fix it."

"Maybe I could make friends with it," Jack said. "Get it to trust me, that way, I'd be able to go in there and do it myself. Or try – maybe without resistance."

"It's a good idea, but that would take a few days, Jack. We don't even have _one_ day to spare," the Doctor said.

When the Doctor stopped talking, the silence became deafening. The conspicuous lack of suggestions hung in the air, and the room's occupants sunk deeper and deeper into despair.

And then Martha entered the room, along with an escort.

The Doctor was shocked – Jack was not. He had caught her sneaky little comment, "I'll be here when you get back," which had not been an assent to go to sleep as the Doctor had wanted. He'd had the feeling he might be seeing her again tonight.

The Doctor stood up and crossed the room to her. He took her head in his hands once more, and kissed her forehead and cheeks, and asked, "What are you doing here?"

She looked at him with deadpan eyes, and said, "I've come to offer a solution."

"You have?"

"Yes," she said. "Have you found a way to reverse the effects of the ramp-up?"

"No," he said, frowning at her, wondering and questioning.

"Tanagirid, what happens if we don't find someone to outsource in the next few hours?" she asked.

"We might be looking at total destruction of the Earth's population inside of one Korr week," the Director answered.

She looked back at the Doctor, again with the dull eyes filled with sadness, and said, "Then I am your solution."

Emphatically, he insisted, "No, you're not. Out of the question."

"Doctor, you know it has to be done," she said. "_It has to be me, and it has to be tonight_."

"Martha, it will kill you!" he cried out, almost a shriek.

She spilled tears once more. "I know, but without it... without it my time will never come. The 21st century, my family, my friends... my life cannot be. Without it, the world ends here."

He followed suit, and the tears began to show in his eyes as well. He knew she was right, but fate seemed exceptionally cruel to bring her so fully into his long life tonight, and then to take her away in the same breath.

He slammed both hands down on the top of one of the control panels, and leaned on it, trying to hold back from screaming.

"Doctor," she said, putting her hand on his back.

"I _just _found you! You can't do it," he wept. "I won't let you."

"You don't have a choice. I don't have a choice. We are in this for the good guys, we do this to help," she said to him. "And if we allow that to go out the window, then what are we? Just travelers – not helpers, not anything."

He was still leaning on the console, tears pouring out, threatening to short out the board. Without looking at her, he croaked out, "I love you."

"I know," she said, stroking his hair now. "But you love me because I help, because I like to give of myself and do things for the greater good. And I know that, because I know that's why _I_ love _you_. We are kindred, my Doctor, and tragic. And if I abandon my planet, walk away from this for selfish reasons... part of you will begin to pull away from me, and you know it."

He finally looked at her, with all of the torment, all of the madness showing in his eyes. "I can't believe this is happening."

"I know," she said. "But it's right."

He stood up straight and looked around the room, perhaps imploring someone to help convince her. But no one said a word, they only looked on in sadness and in silence. Even Jack felt that nothing could be said that would console either the Doctor or Martha, so he kept still.

The Doctor made eye contact with Tanagirid, and took Martha's hand tightly in his. "Can we have tonight? Please, just give us tonight," he begged.

Tanagirid looked at Martha. "Are you sure about this?"

She nodded, and swallowed hard.

"We will see you at dawn, then," the Director said. "You are a superior human being, Martha Jones. _You_ are why we fight so hard for the planet Earth."

Martha looked at the clock on the wall. It was two o'clock in the morning. That gave them four hours.

The room began to empty. The Doctor took both of her hands. He was shaking terribly.

"You're shaking," she said with a smile.

"I'm nervous," he answered.

"Why nervous?"

"Because. You said it yourself: it has to be you, and it has to be tonight."


	17. Chapter 17

SEVENTEEN

Earlier tonight, the Doctor had envisioned holding Martha close to him for all the years that she had left. He thought he would have the time to show her everything, give her everything, love her across the solar systems, and be there with her when old age finally took her.

Now none of those things could happen. The best he could do was spend her last hours with her, and watch as an incredibly powerful machine snuffed out her life. At age twenty-five.

They reached their room, and Martha went in ahead of him. She turned to face him as he crossed the threshold and said, "See? I said I'd be here when you got back, didn't I?"

He wasn't particularly amused. He didn't want to laugh or joke. All he wanted was her, and all they had was now.

Without a word, he grabbed her and kissed her with every bit of the urgency that he'd had the first time. Only this time, she was not knocked off-balance, but returned his passion in kind. And this time, they had the presence of mind to move toward the bed instead of the wall, and not to waste any time talking or thinking.

What happened next was not slow and soulful – it was rapid and ravenous, consuming like a Supernova, and just as explosive. No spreading or building of fire, just a white-hot blast. Their minds were not on the details, only on the longing. They both tried to keep their thoughts away from what would happen at dawn, on the fact that they would soon be separated for all time, but both failed. And so, what resulted was this: just two living, vibrant, frantic beings in love, who had no tomorrow.

* * *

Jack was stargazing, thinking wistfully about this activity, and how peaceful it was in contrast to what was likely going on next door. The sadness and desire on the other side of the wall was probably enough to make the angels weep, and it would all come to a screeching halt in less than four hours. He almost wished that the two pathetic souls would go back to their own stargazing.

He, the Doctor and Martha had had a limited partnership – they help save various worlds in the best way each of them knew how, until it became inconvenient for them to continue working as a team, and then they would part ways. It had worked for them before, and it was working again. They were effective, and tried to stick to the most important rule of thumb: first do no harm. Martha certainly knew all about that rule, and lately, she seemed to be the only one following it.

The Captain wished that the pub with the green sign were open at this hour – he could use something to calm him, even if it was just some chitchat with another sentient being. He was feeling desperately lonely right now, knowing the road that lie ahead. He wasn't sure how long he'd stay with the Doctor after they left this planet, but he knew that he wouldn't leave him until they were both _ready_. He knew that the Doctor would resist his help, resist his friendship, and probably piss him off royally. But Jack was a fighter, just like his friends, and he knew he had to stay that lonely road no matter what.

And Jack, he had his own issues tonight. The Doctor, he knew, was feeling guilty about ramping up the power of the AOF without knowing fully what would happen. Actually, the word _guilty _probably didn't begin to describe it, considering where it had landed them. Jack, in his turn, was carrying the burden of urging the Doctor and Martha to discover their love for each other, only to have it so cruelly ripped out from under them. He was a guy who couldn't leave well-enough alone sometimes. He wondered if he'd ever learn.

An exquisitely tragic train of events had brought them to this point – a planet in peril, a killer machine, two doomed lovers. They couldn't have planned this if they had studied at Murphy's Law University. Jack wondered if perhaps guys like him and the Doc weren't meant to have the kind of happiness that Martha could provide. Still, Jack wanted nothing more than for his friends to enjoy their last night together, even though he knew that was only minimally possible. Without inquiring too deeply, he had been able to tell that something intense and visceral had transpired in the world of the Doctor and Martha earlier in the evening, (and that was _before_ Martha had volunteered to die for the cause!) and that whatever it was, it was probably causing fireworks right now, but also its share of tears. Fireworks and tears – _así es la vida con el Doctór. _Martha had probably known that going in... not that that made any of this any better.

* * *

Three o'clock in the morning, white heat burned itself out to a mere smoulder. Lying under a cream-colored sheet, the Doctor was stroking Martha's bare left arm, and marveling at the smoothness. He leaned forward and kissed it, and made her smile. The morbid, world-weary, battle-fatigued side of him thought, "I'll never see that smile again after the sun comes up." He tried to squash those thoughts, but they just wouldn't go away. They wouldn't let him rest.

Still, he smiled back. He couldn't help it – her happiness lit up the room, and his life.

But his mind wasn't all filled with the starry thoughts of love and loss, and she knew it. He was a little bit uncomprehending of her, perhaps even a bit irritated.

"It's okay," she told him. "You can ask."

"Ask what?"

"Ask how I knew I was needed," she said, looking at his hand stroking her arm, not at his eyes.

"I'd like to know," he responded, not insisting. "But it doesn't matter now."

She paused before speaking. The last thing she wanted to do was offend him tonight, or do anything to drive a wedge between them. "Initially, I just didn't like being left behind," she said. "I wondered if you were just trying to protect me now because..." she broke eye contact.

"Maybe I was," he confessed.

"So I snuck off and followed you to back to Earthsafe, figuring there would be something I could do. I asked one of the attendants to take me back to the lab, and on the way, I saw the security room and I caught a glimpse on the camera system of you and Jack, Tanagirid and the rest... and I stayed and watched. Nothing else was working, and I knew I could do something to help."

A surge of tears threatened to breach the Doctor's eyes again. Martha saw him blink them back. "No, don't do that," she begged. "These are beautiful hours we have – let's not waste them with _that_! Let's talk about how this is a positive thing."

He pulled himself under control with a quick intake of breath. "All right. I'll tell you the positive. This act shows your wonderful heart, your generosity, your bravery, your love of humankind, your love of _everyone_, your magnificent trust in yourself and those around you. Without this, you might not ever have gotten to shine," he offered. "Though you _always _shine in my eyes." With a half-smile, he pushed a strand of hair out of her face.

Now she was on the verge of tears herself, but she swallowed them. No wasting time – positive, positive!

She said, "I know we've made the Roy-Lemans happy. I think that's worth mentioning."

"Absolutely. And Jack got a bit for himself with Feeno," the Doctor said. "Which, let's face it, is what _really _matters."

They both laughed.

"And I know another positive," she said. "I don't know of any human being in my time or any other who has been as much in love as I am right now. This night has been... just perfect." She blushed. "_Hot_, and perfect. I've had more joy tonight _because_ of impending doom, than most people ever have."

The Doctor was quiet, marveling at her poise and fearlessness.

"I love you, Doctor Whoever-you-are, and no machine, no plague, nothing so superficial as death can take that away from us," she said, her voice breaking.

He kissed her ardently, and returned with, "I love you, Martha Jones... every part of you, as it turns out," he said, suggestively, wrapping one arm around her bare waist. She turned over on her back, and looked up at him. "And I will _never_ let death come between us."

_Whatever that may mean..._

He kissed her again, and her arms went around his neck. In a few moments' time, they were lost again to the white heat.

* * *

Four o'clock, their world was still on fire. Four-thirty, came and went with fury, and then five. They were not calm and asleep until a quarter past, and six o'clock came in its turn. Double suns poked their heads in through the red brocade curtains as Martha's watch beeped its reveille.

It wasn't the first time Martha had awakened after spending _une nuit blanche _with someone who had gone before her eyes opened, but it _was _the first time she was surprised by it.


	18. Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

Bleary-eyed from her 45 minutes of sleep, she looked suspiciously, and irritatedly at the empty, cold sheet beside her. She was more than a little hurt. Perhaps _a little less than devastated_ would be putting it better. The only thing that had made going to sleep tolerable, knowing she would wake up to the rooster crowing her death, was that she was sure that the Doctor would be beside her, his smile would comfort her, and he would steady her trembling.

But he wasn't there. _How could he not be there?_

Her grogginess faded, and the pain really set in. Instinctively, her hand went to her forehead, and she began nearly to hyperventilate. She wasn't sure if she was more frightened or angry. What if he had left her because he thought they were finished? But then again, what if something horrible had beamed him out of the room in the middle of the night?

She did not want to appear at Earthsafe this morning with any kind of apprehension showing on her face, nor any redness apparent in her eyes. It would only make it harder for the Roy-Lemans to carry out their duty, and they would ask her again and again if she was sure... and she wanted to avoid all of that. And so, she felt she must appear calm and decisive. She fought hard to hold back her tears. Wherever her Doctor was, whatever he was doing, why ever he had left... she had to get past it so she could go save the world.

She forced her emotions into check, and climbed out of bed. She had briefly contemplated waiting for his return, but she could never be sure when that would be, and she had made an important promise. So, mechanically, she sought out the tee-shirt which had been thrown against the nightstand less than four hours before, and the jacket that had been pushed down her arms, unceremoniously landing on the floor. The jeans were sprawled on the carpet at the foot of the bed along with undergarments, her hair tie, and one hoop earring. She found the other tangled in the sheets. She noted bitterly that there were no pieces of crumpled pin-striped suit lying about as there had been shen she had closed her eyes. If an outsider were to enter, there would be no remaining evidence that anyone else had stayed here.

She put her clothes on slowly. There was a pad of paper and a pen on the desk. She thought about sitting down to leave the Doctor a letter, but he could be anywhere, anytime in the universe by now – how would she get it to him? Besides, what could she say now that he didn't already know? She loved him? She'd never loved anyone else this much or this violently? She'd give anything to stay with him properly? She'd follow him to end of life and back again? Sure, he knew that – she wondered why he wasn't willing to do the same.

Then, with even steps, left the room without taking the key, and knocked on Jack's door.

He opened it within a few seconds. With a kindly smile, he said, "Good morning, Miss Jones."

With all of the smile she could muster, she croaked out, "Good morning, Captain Harkness."

And then, the inevitable question: "Where's the Doctor?"

"I wish I knew," she answered flatly.

His face fell. He wanted to ask her a million questions about where the Doctor could have gone, what he could be thinking, why he would leave her alone on her last morning in this life. But he didn't. He simply hugged her gently and assured her, "I'm sure he'll be back before long."

"Yeah," she whispered, unconvinced.

"Shall we?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said again, a lump in her throat.

They decided to walk, instead of calling for a car. By the time they got outside, it was overcast. He kept his arm around her, periodically kissing the top of her head, trying to talk to her without sounding fatalistic, or alternatively, trying too hard to be chipper. He knew she needed a friend right now, so that's what he tried to be.

After a minute or two without saying anything, Martha stopped walking, and blurted out, "Do you know what happened last night... this morning, after we left Earthsafe? With the Doctor and me?"

"I have a good idea, yes," Jack answered evenly.

"Of course you know," she said. "You could probably sense it before it happened – like a wolf before a lightning storm."

He smiled at the analogy. "Lightning, eh? That's quite a _striking_ metaphor."

"I once heard someone say that he's ancient and forever, and he burns at the center of time," Martha said, quietly, nearly without moving her lips. "Thought at the time that that was so beautiful, but I didn't know..."

"I take it you're not about to tell me that the writing on the gents' wall was exaggerated."

"It was like a hurricane, or like a star when it dies," she said, almost in a trance. "He burns at the center of time, of everything. At the center of _me_. It was like the part of me that was missing finally found me, and I exploded and became one with the universe. I felt him release the weight of nine-hundred years and let me absorb it, and share it. I felt the future, as though I were a portal somehow, and had control over his fluxes, his movements. I felt everything that he was, and he shared it with me willingly... like we were looking through the same telescope. He was..." she seemed to search for words, "...inside me, Jack, I mean _really_ inside me."

They walked a bit further, and stopped walking when they were at the bottom of the hill where they first landed. Jack faced Martha, but she kept looking off into space.

"I have never felt so strong," Martha whispered, "or so weak. I've never felt so mortal or eternal, more frantic or calm. I felt everything and nothing."

She came to, just a bit, and looked Jack in the eyes.

"We could have strengthened each other. We could have been one, and unstoppable and complete. I really felt it, Jack, like joining with him that way could save me somehow. If he is eternal and burns at the center of me, then why must I die at sunrise? I can regenerate too," she said with a smile, chuckling at her own fantasy. "But he's not even here so I can say that to him, let alone to burn with me."

Jack had no idea what to say. So he said what he was thinking. "Martha, I think it's best if we just go up to Earthsafe now."

"Yes, it's best," she agreed, and they walked slowly to one of the thirteen tall buildings in the city.

The Roy-Lemans at Earthsafe were solemn and appreciative when she came in. She tried to smile, but the weight of her absent Doctor was too heavy on her heart. They misinterpreted her furrowed brow as fear or apprehension. She had plenty of both of those things, but her biggest worry was floating out in time somewhere in a little blue police box.

Jack held her hand supportively while the AOF was fired-up and fitted with a new harness. When the time came, Jack gave her a kiss and a smile, and he told her again, and again, that she was doing something great for her planet. Tanagirid gave a speech about the bravery and goodness of Martha Jones, and how surely, Earthsafe could hold its head high once more, thanks to her. Then, they strapped her to the machine.

And it was all a blur – all of it. The straps, the speeches, the machine, the glowing tube in the middle of the room. Martha might as well have had her heart and mind cut out at sunrise when she woke up alone.

Martha braced herself. Then came high-pitched mounting power-up like a 747. The big whirring noise.

And then a very familiar swooshing. Or was it a _grinding_?


	19. Chapter 19

NINETEEN

With the swooshing and grinding, there was always wind. The wind was always followed by the amazing sight of a blue police box appearing out of thin-air.

The TARDIS parked itself about ten feet from where Martha was strapped to the AOF. Martha's heart was now firmly back in her chest, and beating a mile a minute.

She almost wept with relief. Her disappointment had been all-consuming, and now it was completely gone. She didn't have to die without having a goodbye kiss.

The wooden doors flew open and the Doctor appeared with his arms outstretched, screaming "Stop! Stop that machine I say!"

The AOF powered down, and a roomful of stunned eyes fell on the Time Lord's sharp, smiling features.

"Doctor, it's you!" Martha cried out, pulling at her harness. An attendant came to her side to help her out of it.

"_Oh yes_!" the Doctor said.

"Have you found a solution?" Jack asked, anxiously.

"_Oh yes_!" the Doctor repeated, as only he can.

Martha was free now, and she ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck and her lips against his lips. After a brief, joyful embrace, he pushed her away, and said "We don't have any time to waste!"

Frantically, he began to wrench off the screws in the floor that led to the AOF's sentient essence while everyone remained transfixed. "What are you doing?" Martha asked.

"I'm not going to let you die today," he told her, never stopping. "Or any other day, not for a long, long time. Martha Jones, you shall live!"

He dropped down under the floor, along with the big glowing light. Jack and Martha stood at the edges looking in. "What are you talking about?" she asked, delighted but cautious.

From under the floor his voice was muffled, but he could still be understood. Well, as much as he could ever be understood when he was talking this quickly. "The Attribute Outsource Facilitator is a sentient, benevolent energy source, as I've said. But as we all know, it also absorbs energy by sucking it directly from a person's pores and cells." He appeared in the hole, looking up at his companions, glasses on, mind ablaze. He thrust a mechanical device at them. "And then it uses this thing-a-ma-bob to convert that energy into attributes in the Zed wave digitizer – which really makes it more of an energy converter, but that's neither here nor there – and the digitizer then transfers all of it into Earth's atmosphere."

Jack took the thing out of the Doctor's hand. It was the adaptor that allowed the AOF to be hooked up to the Zed wave digitizer, with a little tiny scale balance.

The Doctor climbed out of the hole and disappeared into the TARDIS. A second later, he stuck his head out, along with his hand, and asked "May I have that, please?"

Jack, startled, blustered, "Y-yeah, sure," and awkwardly handed over the little device.

"Thank you." It came out "_thangyeh_."

They all heard some banging and clanging going on inside the TARDIS, and when the Doctor came back out, he had in-hand a long cable, still attached inside the blue box, and the adaptor attached to the end. And he was talking a mile a minute again. "I was lying awake this morning _cursing_ this dread Facilitator because it won't let us turn up and turn down certain attributes, which is what got us into this whole mess in the first place – well, that and the fact that I didn't bother to read the sodding manual before I turned up the juice – and I got to wondering," he said, finally stopping for breath. "Would the TARDIS have done the same thing? And I realised: 'course it would! Respect for humankind and all that."

Jack had the game now. "And then you realised that the TARDIS could and would probably do other things that the AOF can do."

"Yes! _Exactement_, my friend," the Doctor cried out, practically jumping out of his trainers with excitement. "Want to watch me piss off a sentient benevolent energy converter?"

"God, yes," Martha said.

He smiled at her and jumped back into the hole. When he finished hooking the TARDIS up to the Zed wave digitizer, he climbed back out and grabbed the harness, which was attached to the ceiling, twenty feet up. "Little help, please?" he called out.

Five attendants hopped to, one of them using a control panel to lower the plug-in to a reasonable height, two to bring in the ladder so they could climb up and unhook the thing, and two others to stand and pretend to be helping. When they had disengaged it, they handed it to the Doctor. He ran back into the TARDIS.

Martha stood in the doorway of the spaceship and asked, "But wait, won't that mean that the waves will come more slowly?"

"Yeah!" the Doctor called out. She watched him attach the harness to the TARDIS console somehow, and then go to work ripping up the floor of his own vehicle. "I'm going to do a slight boost of power, give it maybe a fourth of what I gave the AOF. Might knock you out for half a day, but it won't kill you."

Martha saw him jump down into the heart of the TARDIS, and then heard the sound of the sonic screwdriver. He came back out again, and said, "There, that's done it."

Martha stepped quickly out of the way as the Doctor shot out of the TARDIS into the larger room.

He checked some knobs and switches on the digitizer, muttered to himself, and checked some more. Then he smiled grandly and looked at Martha. "Are you ready?"

She shrugged with her own grand smile and said, "Yeah, I guess I am."

"All right then! _Allons-y,_ Martha Jones," he said. "We're going to save your planet!"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the TARDIS. He shut the door and hugged her warmly. With serious eyes, he penetrated her gaze, and said "_I'm so sorry_."

"You gave me quite a fright," she confessed. "I thought you might've left me."

"I will never do that, do you hear me?" he said, very, very serious now. "I needed to retrofit the TARDIS to attach to that bloody adaptor, and then needed find out if the power intake unit would accommodate the Roy-Lemans' harness. And of course it wouldn't, so I had to rig up something there too. Believe me, Martha, I would have liked nothing more than to wake up by your side..."

"But you were working out a way to save my life," she said, grabbing his arm. "I get it."

"Yes, you do," he said, smiling once more. She loved him no matter what, but liked him so much more when he was smiling. He took her head in his hands and kissed her. The urgency was gone now, and all she felt was his love. Relief flooded her as the embrace continued, and their arms twined around each others' shoulders. Her senses were clouded again, but this time with comfort and joy and love. She didn't have to die today, and even better: she had her Doctor back.

When he ended the kiss he said, "It's still going to hurt like hell," he told her. "And we'll have to do it three or four times."

"I know," she said. "But it's got to be better than the alternative."

With raised, exaggerated eyebrows, he said, "Yeah! Quite a bit better, actually."

As he strapped her back in the harness, she felt infinitely glad that he was doing the honors this time, and that her (now small) sacrifice would be by his hand, not some stranger's.

The TARDIS powered up much like the Facilitator, and when the Doctor pulled a lever, Martha felt the burn. It consumed her whole body, felt like a million and one cells were being pulled through each pore simultaneously, and also being set on fire. It was unbearable, and she couldn't hold back from screaming. She had wanted to be brave for the Doctor, but she could not. And so she screamed.

He was in hell for fifteen seconds, watching her suffer at the hands of his TARDIS. But when it was all over, she collapsed on the metal grate floor, unconscious, but alive.


	20. Chapter 20

TWENTY

Martha was out cold, but her breathing was steady, her pulse regular and her brain activity normal. The Doctor and Jack swooshed her back to the Guest House in the TARDIS and put her in bed. She was unconscious for six hours, and at noon, she woke in their room, disoriented. The TARDIS was sitting in the corner with the door ajar. "Doctor?" she croaked out.

The tall Time Lord stuck his head out with a smile. "You're awake!"

"Is that what they call it?" she asked, rubbing her head, trying to get both eyes to open without interference.

"On some planets, yes," he said. He sat down next to her on the bed. "I suppose it would be daft to ask how you feel."

"Like I've been run down by a lorry. In the rain. On Christmas. And I haven't eaten in a month."

"I expect that'd be fairly typical," he said. He put his hand on her forehead, and with his thumb, he pried her eyelids open and examined her pupils. She reacted to the harsh light by turning her head sideways reflexively. He needed both hands to keep her steady, but when he was satisfied that she was okay, he took the opportunity to give her a kiss.

Ah, it was like manna from heaven, that kiss. Her dreams had all been about abandonment, death and fire. A short time ago, she thought she'd never feel that kiss again, and her down-time had given her more to fear. She was so thankful for this moment, for all of these moments, that for a bit, she forgot that she hurt from head to toe and that the very thought of standing up was a chore.

"I brought you something," he said.

He disappeared into the TARDIS once more. When he came back, he had a proper bottle of champagne, and a small paper sack.

"While you were asleep, Jack kept an eye on you while I popped over to 19th century France for a bit. I figured today was something to celebrate, and since the alcohol here is rubbish..." he set the bottle down on the nightstand. "And I got you this." He handed her the paper sack.

She looked inside. It had her _favorite_ sausage sandwich from her favorite pub in London. She shrieked with delight, completely forgetting her agony as she unwrapped and bit into it. She moaned a bit. "God, I've missed this," she confessed.

With her mouth full, she looked up at him. "There's a catch, isn't there? Is that why you went all over the place to get me stuff?"

"I just love you. Wanted to make you feel better."

"And that's all?"

"Well... the catch is that we have to do the outsource five more times, but you probably already knew that. The spread of the plague is slowing down... well, more slowly than we had hoped," he told her. "But I'm not juicing up the extraction any more – not taking any chances there."

"Five more times, eh?" she asked between bites. She seemed thoughtful, but not frightened. "All right, then. When do we go again?" Another bite of sandwich.

"It requires a ten-hour convalescence to bring you back to your full self," he explained. "So we're due back there at ten o'clock tonight."

"So one zap takes sixteen hours," she said. "In that time..."

"...more than two weeks go by on Earth," he finished her thought.

She felt a bit of despair at that. She could only help Earth in two-week increments. Who knew how many people would die of the plague in that time?

"Can't we do it any faster?" she asked.

"I wish we could. But if we put you through that process again too soon, it might do permanent damage – or worse. No chances. We do things the slow way this time."

"But all those people," she whispered.

He beamed at her. "I'm so proud of you," he said. "You are the bravest woman I've ever met, Martha."

"Not brave, just... visceral," she said with a little smile.

He smiled back, marveling again at her poise, fearlessness, grace, beauty and generosity. He stared – made her self-conscious.

"What?" she asked, mouth full.

"Nothing," he said, still staring. "Just thinking that... I'd like to celebrate right now."

He popped open the bottle of champagne and offered it to her. There were no glasses, so she took it in her hand, and toasted, "To Earth!" and drank two swallows. He did the same.

When she was finished with her sandwich, she decided to have a shower... and she coaxed him into joining her. Lazy water fell on bodies at peace, and their lovemaking comingled in the air with the steam. Later, they fetched Jack and had tea at the pub with the green sign... and they even got to meet Feeno. No one would be spending the night alone, it seemed.

It took four days to perform all of the needed outsourcing. Each time, Martha was out cold for six hours and she recovered for ten. Each time, the Doctor would take her back to their room and lay her gently in bed, and would wait with bated breath until she woke. Then, they would make love, have a good meal, spend time with Jack and some new friends, maybe make love again, and then it was back to Earthsafe. Early morning, late afternoon, middle of the night – it didn't matter, they fired up the medley of machinery and sent Martha's essence to Earth. The pain didn't get any better, and Martha found herself no more capable of coping without screaming than the last time. But she did her duty, and after the sixth outsourcing, Tanagirid announced that Earth was showing a marked leveling-off of population. The Black Death was curbed.

While she slept after each session, the Doctor spent some of the time interfacing the TARDIS' heart with the AOF's glowing essence. The AOF was out-of-sorts and angry since it had been disconnected and relieved from its duty. He wondered if perhaps some exposure to the TARDIS' nature could possibly rebuild some of the healing capacity the AOF had once had, and perhaps smooth over some raw wounds. He was right – within two days, the Roy-Lemans were able to commune with the AOF on a limited basis, and by the time four days were up, it was back to normal and ready to serve again.

When the Doctor and Martha had finished "celebrating" the last painful outsourcing, they lay in bed as the ceiling spun, trying to bring their wits about them. The champagne had long-since run out, but their intoxication with each other was still quite potent.

The Doctor commented, "Well, when we finally do get back to Earth, it won't be the same for you, will it?"

"It hasn't been the same for me since the moment I met you," she said. She turned over on her side and smiled at him. "Anyway, I should think we'd like to avoid the Earth for a while."

"Why is that?"

"Because at the moment, everyone on Earth is madly in love with you."

"Well, that would be an interesting trip, wouldn't it?" he asked with a huge, mischievous smile.

"Erm... no. I'm not ready to have a sense of humour about that sort of thing yet," she said playfully. "You're all mine! We'll stay marooned in this room if we have to until all other beings are purged of your devilish charms!"

With mock disappointment he said, "Ohhhh! You never let me do anything fun."

This led to a smack on the head, which led to kicking, then pinching... and then more celebrating.

When they left, amid fanfare just short of a tickertape parade, they took Feeno with them – of course Jack did not object. Feeno had never been to Earth, and Martha wanted to visit her mum. Martha's mum lived in a time when Londoners were fully aware of extraterrestrial presence – why not?

On their first night away in the blue box, for the first time, Martha followed the Doctor into far reaches of the TARDIS to his bedroom. As she fell asleep, she thought, the next day, they would be back in her own 21st century, where most sicknesses could be _identified, treated_, and no one was waiting for a miracle to happen on another planet to save them.

But then, isn't every life saved a miracle in someone's world?


	21. Author's Note

Hello all. This is not a new chapter of Benevolence, as such. It is, however, notification that I've decided to write a continuation of the story. It is its own story, to be sure – the tale of what I think happens next, in the situation that I've created by writing Benevolence. If you're interested, please take a look! Thank you for reading!

The new story: **_The Love Doctor_** by Haleine Delail /s/4549947/1/TheLoveDoctor

(Trust me - it's not what the title suggests. Well, not entirely.)


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